Coming to Terms
by Cherry-SweetHeart
Summary: Sakura's an FBI agent who's given the assignment to bust an opium dealer. Big challenges await her. Syaoran's also an FBI agent, but he's not just in it for the job, revenge is on his mind.
1. Prologue

Cherry: Konnichiwa minna-san! O-genki desu ka? Watashi wa genki desu! Now for all of those who don't speak Japanese, I just said: Hi everyone! How are you? I'm doing well! Now... on with our story, and no, that was not said in Japanese.

Basic Summary: Sakura's an FBI agent who's given the assignment to bust an opium dealer. Many challenges await her, but not just challenges with her case, but challenges with her heart. Syaoran's also an FBI agent, but he's not just in it for the job, revenge is on his mind, but will het get it?

Disclaimer: If I owned CCS, would I be writing fan fiction? Well, would I?!

Prologue: Finishing a Job

It was not really a gloomy day, nor was it really a cheerful day. It was overcast and a bit dark for an afternoon, true, but the people of Tomoeda were in a pleasant mood. Well, most of them anyway. A girl with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes was running down the street clutching a manila file folder. Three blocks behind her, three men followed. One had a cell phone against his ear, most likely talking to his boss. Another one of the men was shouting orders to the other one. But at the moment, our story does not concern them.

The girl ducked into an alley, but to her disappointment; it was a dead end.

"Damn it!" The girl scowled.

She heard footsteps coming and quickly ducked behind a trashcan to hide. She held her breath as they ran by, their expensive shoes clattering on the ground. Her heart was in her throat as they passed like blurs. She let out a sigh of relief and was just about to step out from her hiding place when a nearby door banged open and a dark shadow emerged and threw a large bag away. The brunette backed against the brick wall and the shadow went back inside. She stepped out into the light from a nearby street lamp and looked at the building.

"Well... if I go in there, I can walk out like a normal person and those guys won't catch me," she said quietly.

She stepped up to the door and swung it open. The loud music and the steaming temperatures poured out over her body.

"Great, just great. A club," she snarled.

She sighed and stepped into the club. She fought her way through all of the sweaty bodies towards the door. When she stepped back out into the cool air she sighed.

"This job is going to do me in," she mumbled and casually began walking down the street.

A plain white van pulled up beside her and she lipped into the passenger seat.

"Did you get it?" the driver asked.

She nodded and showed him the file folder.

"Sakura, you're great," he replied and drove off.

The girl sighed again and pulled on her dark brown hair. Surprisingly, it slid off revealing shoulder length auburn hair. She picked up a brush that was lying on the dash and brushed the tangles out.

"You know, I really can't wait for a cold shower. I feel like shit," Sakura said as she pulled the visor down and flipped the mirror open. She looked at herself for a moment and then pulled out her blue contacts, revealing a set of brilliant, intelligent, and gorgeous emerald green eyes.

"Cold?" the driver asked.

"Yes Himeko, a cold shower," Sakura replied.

Himeko, Taichi Himeko, her partner for three long years. He was an okay guy. He always let her do the dirty work. He would just drive the van and keep in touch with headquarters. Taichi had never really been one of those guys that would go through with a dare. Sakura on the other hand, would take the dare to a level far beyond what was needed. That's what made her good.

Taichi was a guy whose family always helped him when he needed it. Whether it be with money, or just advice. He was handsome, yes, but to Sakura, he was just annoying. He was well built and had a mysterious aura around him that made the girls go weak-at-the-knees; sure, Sakura would give him that. But if you had to spend just about everyday with him, you'd hate him as much as she did.

"Damn Kinomaka, when the hell are you going to five me a new partner?!" Sakura thought as Taichi droned on about how his mother sent him a thousand dollars for his so-called "allowance."

Speaking of mothers and family, Sakura hadn't seen, nor talked, to hers for six years. She left when she was nineteen. She was fed up with the way her stepmother treated her. She still had the scar from when her stepmother threw the glass vase across the room at her when she had come home from school with a friend. Sakura had forgotten to mention that her friend was coming over to work on a project for school and her stepmother had gotten so angry. Sakura could remember that day clearly.

Where was her father, you ask? Well, he was an archeologist, so he was in Beijing on a business trip. Her brother was at University in Hong Kong studying for a PhD in medicine. So it was just Sakura and her stepmother.

How did she end up in Tomoeda? Well, she left Tokyo, but did not have enough money to leave the country, so she packed up every bag she had full of clothes and her personal belongings. At midnight, after her stepmother had gone to sleep she called a taxicab and told the drive to take her as far as her money could go. Well... she ended up in Tomoeda; approximately two days drive from Tokyo. She thanked the drive and set off to find a cheap place to stay.

She had arrived in Tomoeda on a bright, sunny day, the people hurrying here and there, not noticing the nineteen year old with a dozen bags; everyone except her: Tomoyo Daidouji.

- Flashback -

Sakura was walking down the street near a large park that had a huge slide the shape of a penguin. It was a very nice place; it looked, for children to play. It had to be, because dozens of children were running around and winging and playing in the sand boxes. Sakura stopped to watch and set her backpack down on top of the rest of her bags. There was a girl about the same age as herself, Sakura guessed. She was very beautiful, he waist length, ebony colored hair flowing gently in the breeze the rustled the leaves on all the trees. Sakura picked up her backpack and continued walking.

"Excuse me," a soft voice called to Sakura from behind.

Sakura stopped and turned around; it was that girl. Her amethyst eyes held a kind of never-ending love the one would look for in a best friend.

"Are you lost?" the girl inquired; she looked down at the bags that Sakura had.

"N-no, I'm fine," Sakura replied with embarrassment.

"Ok, I just thought I'd ask. You looked a little sad and I just had a feeling that you might need some help," the girl said again. "Well, maybe I'll see you around."

She turned back towards the park and began walking.

"W-wait," Sakura stuttered.

The ebony-haired girl turned back to face her.

"I was wondering... do you know of any cheap places to say at?" Sakura asked. "I don't have much money and I'm new here..."

The other girl's face softened. "You can stay with me for the time being. By the way," the girl said and stepped towards Sakura with an extended hand. "I'm Tomoyo Daidouji."

"Sakura, Sakura Kinomoto," Sakura replied with a smile.

And that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

- End flashback -

The van pulled into a parking structure and Sakura and Taichi got out.

"We'd better hurry. We're a bit late," Taichi said.

Sakura nodded and the two headed to the elevator. They stepped in and Himeko pressed the button for the sixth floor.

"What do you think is in the folder?" Himeko asked.

"I don't know," Sakura replied with a shrug.

"No ideas, eh?" Taichi said.

"I said I didn't, so leave me alone," Sakura snapped back. "Damn, I feel like shit and he wants to play twenty questions!" she thought.

They exited the elevator on the sixth floor and headed to Kinomaka's office. Himeko knocked on the door.

"Come in," a voice inside replied.

The two entered and sat down in the overly stuffed brown leather chairs in front of the desk. They stared at the back of the big, executive, black leather armchair.

"Did you get it?" a voice asked.

"Yes sir," Taichi replied quickly.

"Kinomoto, you're awfully quiet today," the voice said.

"I'm sorry Mr. Kinomaka. I'm just not feeling very well," Sakura replied. "God damn it! I just want to curl up and die!" she thought.

The chair swiveled around revealing a man with sandy-white hair and azure colored eyes; eyes that held a soft expression.

"You should get some rest then," he replied.

"I'm on duty until seven o'clock sir. I'll be fine," Sakura replied.

She pulled the file out of her jacket and set it on the desk. Mr. Kinomaka smiled and lifted the folder off the desk.

"Good work. You both have some paperwork on your desks. You're dismissed," Kinomaka said with a wave of his hand.

Sakura and Taichi head to their desks. They sat opposite of each other and Taichi's desk was coved in picture of friends and family-except for his father. Sakura's on the other hand; only had her name plaque.

It read: Agent Sakura Kinomoto: FBI field agent.

Yes, Sakura was an FBI agent. And a damn good one at that, and everyone knew it.


	2. Desperate Situations

Cherry: Hey every one. Here's chapter one, I hope you liked the prologue. I do apologize if this fan fiction starts out like some of the other fan fictions out there. By no means am I trying to plagiarize your stories, I just thought that with all of those great cop and FBI and CIA stories out there, that I'd test my skills and attempt one.

Disclaimer: No way in the entire world, heaven, or hell, do I own Card Captor Sakura. Thank you, I'm done.

Chapter 1: Desperate Situations

Sakura slid into her small bed and tried to relax her aching muscles. All the rest of the day Mr. Kinomaka had her running errands throughout the office building. On top of that, everyone kept coming to her with their problems. Once again she had missed her lunch break because she was in a meeting with her boss and had too much to do to take a late lunch.

"Sakura," a voice called through the door.

"Yes?" Sakura replied, sitting up in her bed.

Tomoyo walked though the door and sat down on the side of Sakura's bed. She had a very concerned look on her face.

"You're sick aren't you?" Tomoyo asked.

Sakura flopped back down on her bed and rolled onto her stomach.

"Damn, you know Tomoyo, I fell like I've been run over with a two-ton truck," she said, her voice a little muffled through the pillow.

"I'll go make something warm for you to eat. I'll be back," Tomoyo replied.

Sakura turned her head to face her best friend.

"You don't have to do that Tomoyo. I'll just take some Tylenol and go to bed. I'll be fine in the morning," Sakura said.

"If you're sure about that. But, if you aren't felling any better tomorrow, I'm calling Mr. Kinomaka and telling him we won't be in," she explained with an air of finality in her voice.

Sakura nodded and rolled over. Tomoyo left the room and went back to the kitchen. She picked up a pale blue book and opened it. She flipped through some of the pages until she found what she was looking for: chocolate chip cookies.

"She'll enjoy these. After all, they are her favorite," Tomoyo said with a smile as she gathered the ingredients.

"Meanwhile, Sakura was not having the most restful sleep. Her dreams were plagued with her stepmother. All the memories-the bad memories-resurfaced. Memories of her father and brother from the last time she had seen them. She sat up abruptly in her bed. It was the next day; the sun was out.

Her body was quivering as she walked to the bathroom to wash her face. She looked up into the mirror and frowned. The person staring back at her has sunken, dulled eyes. Her face was pale and her hair was a disaster, tangles here, sticking up there. Overall, she looked dead.

Sakura turned to the clock on her nightstand from the bathroom and gasped. It was ten forty-five in the morning.

"Shit!" she screamed and frantically tried to get ready.

"Sakura, I know you're up now," a voice called. "You're not going to work, and neither am I. I told Mr. Kinomaka we wouldn't be in today."

There was a loud crash and Tomoyo threw the door open.

"Sakura!" she called.

Sakura walked out of the bathroom.

"You did what?" she asked calmly.

"Sakura, you may fell fine now, but if you go to work you'll put too much stress on yourself," Tomoyo replied with a caring look in her friendly amethyst eyes.

"Damn it, she's right," Sakura thought. "My life is completely fucked up because of this cold," she added as an afterthought.

"I was just about to make an early lunch for myself. Would you like to come down and make something?" Tomoyo asked and walked out of the room leaving the question unanswered.

Sakura walked over to her closet and pulled out a pair of pink sweatpants and a white tank top with a small cherry blossom in the center. She pulled her hair into a messy bun and walked out of her room.

As Sakura headed down the stairs the phone rang.

"Hello? This is Tomoyo Daidouji," Tomoyo said sweetly and held the phone between her should and ear.

"Miss Daidouji, this is Shin Maki from the bureau," the voice said.

"Yes, go on," Tomoyo replied.

"I was wondering if you could relay a message to Kinomoto," Shin explained.

"Sure thing," Tomoyo said and stirred her lunch.

"Well, Mr. Kinomaka gave her a new partner," Shin informed. "She'll meet him as soon as she returns to the office."

"Ok, I'll tell her," Tomoyo told him. "Good bye, and have a nice day."

Sakura walked into the kitchen as Tomoyo hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" Sakura asked opening the cupboard and pulling out some peanut butter.

"Just a telemarketer," Tomoyo lied. "She'll be trilled to find out she has a new partner, we'll make it a surprise!" she thought.

Sakura nodded as she opened a drawer and pulled out some bread.

"After lunch would you like to go for a jog with me? I heard exercise helps your body fight colds," Sakura said as she spread the peanut butter on the bread she pulled out.

"Sure," Tomoyo replied, pouring the contents of her lunch into a bowl.

Sakura folded the bread in half and sat down at the table.

Meanwhile, back at headquarters, Taichi Himeko was cleaning out his desk. He was grumbling as he did so.

He had good reason to be angry. He had not had the best conversation with his boss.

- Flashback -

"Himeko, can you come into my office for a moment?" Mr. Kinomaka called over the speakerphone to Taichi.

Taichi walked to the office, many people saying goodbye to him. He was a bit confused by their actions.

"Wait..." he thought to himself, "does he know?"

He started to panic.

He slowly walked into Mr. Kinomaka's office and sat down.

"I regret to inform you Mr. Himeko, but I have to assign you to a new partner," Mr. Kinomaka explained.

"What? Why do I have to get a new partner!?" Taichi yelled.

"Please, Himeko. Keep your voice down. I'm not replacing you because you're incompetent or anything. But my assignment for Kinomoto is dangerous and I know that you won't go in with her," his boss explained.

Himeko's face flushed. It was true, he was a coward and Sakura did need a better partner.

"But still! He's replacing me!" Taichi thought.

"I just thought I would let you know. I need you to clean your desk out. Sakura's new partner will be here in three hours. You may go now," Kinomaka said.

Taichi left and began to pack his boxes.

- End Flashback -

"Fuck..." he mumbled under his breath. "Now that I'm not Sakura's partner, things are going to get out of control..." he thought.

"Excuse me," a male's voice sad as Taichi felt a tapping on his shoulder.

Himeko turned around. "Who are you?" he asked.

"My name is Shin Maki. I'm your new partner," She said and extended his hand.

Taichi shook hands with him and put on a fake smile.

"You desk is on the next floor down," Shin explained. "Can I help you carry your boxes?"

"I'll be fine, I'm waiting for someone," Taichi replied.

Shin nodded and headed back down stairs.

"Pansy..." Taichi mumbled and glared after him.

"Mr. Himeko, please come to my office," Mr. Kinomaka's voice called over the speakerphone again.

Taichi sighed and walked back to the office. As she entered he noticed someone sitting in one of the chairs. Taichi sat down in the chair next to the new person.

"Himeko, this is Agent Syaoran Li. He is Kinomoto's new partner," Kinomaka said and gestured to the man sitting in the chair next to him.

The man had messy chocolate brown hair and intense amber eyes that burned with a never-ending fire. Taichi suddenly felt very small and stupid next to him. Syaoran extended a hand. Himeko reluctantly shoo hands, then dismissed himself to finish clearing out his desk.

"Li, I apologize for his behavior. He is a bit upset for being replaced," Kinomaka explained.

"Don't worry about it sir," Syaoran replied, giving Kinomaka a small smile.

"Anyway, your desk is near the windows, you'll find it easily," Syaoran's new boss said with a chuckle.

Syaoran cocked his eyebrow.

"What's so funny, if I may ask sir?" he asked.

"Kinomoto's desk is just about completely empty. She only has her name plaque on it. Anyway, I'll give you a tour of the building," Mr. Kinomaka replied and stood up.

Syaoran stood up as well and opened the door for his new boss. Kinomaka exited, followed by Syaoran, and began the tour.

There was a slight breeze blowing that day. It was a bright sunny and very few people were out and about. Sakura slowed to a walk as she passed by Penguin Park. Tomoyo caught up and slowed down too.

"Sakura, are you okay?" Tomoyo asked.

Sakura had a distant look in her eyes as she remembered her first time here in Tomoeda. Her life had changed so quickly that she didn't really notice. Tomoyo and Sakura spent two year living with Sonomi, Tomoyo's mother. After that, they both thought it would be best if they moved out and began living on their own. So, a week later they moved into the house they were living in now. A small smile came across Sakura's face as she turned to her friend.

"Tomoyo, I'm so glad that I met you. If I hadn't, I'm not sure I'd know what to do," Sakura said.

Tomoyo smiled brightly. They had been friends since they met. They worked in the same place, lived in the same place, and were very happy.

Yes, Tomoyo was also an agent. But she had not progressed as quickly as Sakura did, but she did not really care.

"Let's go," Tomoyo said and grabbed Sakura's hand and began dragging her towards the swings.

"Wait, Tomoyo, we're too old to play on the swings," Sakura protested.

Nevertheless, Tomoyo and Sakura both ended up laughing as they were swinging. Before they realized it, it started getting dark.

"We should probably head back now," Tomoyo suggested.

"Yeah," Sakura replied and jumped off the swing.

They left the park and began walking home. The sidewalk was much more crowded than before, but people were getting off work now and were heading home.

"Kinomoto!" a voice called behind them.

Sakura turned around and came face-to-face with her boss.

"Are you feeling any better than you did yesterday?" Kinomaka asked.

"Yes, sir. I'll be in to work tomorrow, both of us actually," Sakura replied.

"That's great. Did you hear the news?" Kinomaka asked.

"News? What news? Do I have a new assignment already?" Sakura asked.

Kinomaka looked to Tomoyo and she quickly shook her head mouthing "no!"

"Well, since you haven't heard, I'll let you find out tomorrow," he finished and turned to walk away.

Sakura turned to Tomoyo with a question face.

"I don't know a thing," she replied and shrugged.

"Something's going on... I just know it," Sakura thought.

She sighed as she could not think of anything and ran to catch up with Tomoyo. As they were walking home, storm clouds began forming above them and thunder crashed in the distance.

"Damn, rain again!" Sakura cursed.

A light rain began to fall and Sakura and Tomoyo took shelter under a tree.

"I think it would be best to just wait this out. My cell phone is dead," Tomoyo said and pushed the phone back into her lavender backpack purse.

"All right," Sakura sighed.

Her cell phone was sitting on her nightstand.

Time passed by ever so slowly as the rain continued to pour down on the small town. Thunder crashed and lightening flashed overhead as the rain started coming down harder.

"Tomoyo, I really don't like these circumstances," Sakura said softly as she looked around.

It was almost completely dark and the woods behind them had become eerily quiet and shadowy.

Tomoyo nodded. Tomoeda was known to be a bad place after night had fallen. Robbers, muggers, and other such people came out after dark. Anyone still out became a target.

Sakura stepped closer to Tomoyo.

"I don't care if we get soaked, but I don't want to stay her any longer," she said.

Tomoyo nodded. "On the count of three."

"One..." Sakura whispered and took Tomoyo's hand.

"Two..." Tomoyo said and clenched Sakura's hand tightly.

"THREE!" both girls yelled and took off running in the direction of their home.

Once again the streets were relatively deserted. Sakura and Tomoyo kept running, trying not to notice the people that were following them. They turned the corner and darted across the street, their shoes were losing their grip on the ground because they were completely soaked. Running and running, passing all of the drawn curtains of housed. Running to the yellow house at the end of the road, followed by the people behind them, running, sliding, and slipping. Sakura pushed Tomoyo to go faster to the house and open the door. Sakura's foot hit a rock and she tripped. Her white shirt was not black and her pants were streaked. She struggled to get up, ignoring the pain in her dislocated shoulder where she hit the wall of the sidewalk. The people were gaining on her and she took off towards her home again. Tomoyo had the door open and was ready to close it after Sakura came in. Sakura clutched her arm and used the rest of her strength to get in the house. Tomoyo slammed the door and locked it.

Sakura gasped for breath as she slid down the wall completely exhausted. Tomoyo walked over and inspected Sakura's shoulder.

"This might hurt a bit, but it'll get your shoulder back in place," Tomoyo explained and put a hand on Sakura's shoulder bone that was sticking out at a strange angle and used the other hand to take her arm.

Sakura closed her eyes tightly. Tomoyo pushed the shoulder back into place and Sakura's scream echoed throughout the house.

"We need to get changed. Your cold will come back if you stay in wet clothes," Sakura explained once Sakura had stopped screaming.

Sakura clenched her teeth and pushed herself up off the floor.

"Damn it Tomoyo. That was too close. Shit! We could be dead right now!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Sakura! You think I damn well don't know that!?" Tomoyo retorted raising her voice far above Sakura's.

Sakura looked away cursing under her breath. Tomoyo rarely raised her voice above her own. That only meant one thing; Tomoyo was really mad.


	3. Rainy Day Memories

Cherry: Welcome to Chapter 2, you may pass go and collect 200 dollars. Just kidding, I don't have 200 dollars for every person who made it to chapter 2. If I did, I wouldn't be here writing fan fiction. I'd be a professional novelist making thousands of dollars with my well paying books and articles and such other crap! AHAHHAHAH! Actually... just to clear that up, my dream is not to be a novelist; it's actually to be a graphics animator. And speaking of dreams... I should probably start applying to colleges soon. TT Curse going into your senior year of high school.

Disclaimer: Needless to say, I have to repeat myself again. If I owned CCS I would be so happy that I would turn myself into a blue sloth and run around screaming. But, as you can tell, or rather, I hope you can tell, I am not a blue sloth, so I do not own CCS.

Chapter 2: Rainy Day Memories

Li Syaoran was sitting in his empty apartment with the TV on. Though, he was not watching it at all. He had a very distant look in his eyes and was staring at a wall that had only one picture on it. It was a group shot of his entire family that had been taken before his father was killed while working on a case. For as long as anyone could remember, the men of his family had always been FBI agents. And Syaoran was no different.

- Flashback -

"Papa!" little seven-year-old Syaoran called out to a tall and handsome man that had his back turned. "Papa!"

The man turned around with a smile on his face.

"Yes Syao?" he replied in a deep and handsome voice.

"Pap, mama wants to take a picture!" Syaoran exclaimed happily.

"Ahh, I see," his father replied.

He scooped Syaoran up off the ground and put him on his shoulders. Little Syaoran laughed heartily. His father walked over to his mother and kissed her on the cheek. Syaoran watched in silence; he wanted to do that too, to the girl of his dreams.

"Come, let's that the picture now," his mother explained.

Syaoran's four older sisters gather around and all of his aunts and uncles, and all of his cousins stood in a large group.

Once everyone was settled, the photographer took the picture.

- End Flashback -

Syaoran blinked and looked away from the picture. God now he missed his father. Not two months after that picture was taken his father was shot and killed while he was about to bust a huge opium distributor in Hong Kong. Apparently, after an attempt to bring them out, the distributors left Hong Kong; or so the rumor said.

"Tomorrow's forecast shows much more rain. Drive safely if you go anywhere," the TV anchor's voice broke through Syaoran's thoughts.

Had it been raining? Syaoran got up and walked to the window. He looked out and a flash of lightening danced across the night sky. A sad smile formed at the corners of his mouth. It was raining when news of his father's death came. That morning he had known something was wrong.

- Flashback -

"Mama!" Syaoran's voice rang through the house powerfully.

"Yes Syao?" his mother asked smiling up at him as he ran down the stairs of his home in Hong Kong.

"Something bad has happened!" Syaoran exclaimed shaking.

He tried to be calm and keep his voice stead so hi mother would believe him.

"Something bad? Syao, are there monsters in your closet again? Have your sisters been teasing you?" she asked a bit amused.

Just then there was a knock at the door and his mother headed over to open it. There stood a man, silhouetted by the flashing lightening in the background.

Syaoran couldn't hear what they were saying, but he did see his mother's face pale and her eyes widen.

His mother walked back over to him with tear stained eyes. She took his hand and led him into the living room where his sisters were sitting.

"What is it mother?" Feimei asked when she saw her mother come in.

"Mother, is something wrong?" Fuutie added.

Their mother sat down and gathered Syaoran up into her lap. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. She took a shuddering breath and looked up to her family.

"Your father," she began. "Has... has been shot."

Syaoran's eyes widened as the news sank into him. His sisters were in shock but their eyes began to well up with tears and then began to sob.

"Mama, just because he's shot... can't he get better?" Syaoran asked looking up at his mother.

She shook her head sadly.

"Syaoran," she said softly. "I'm afraid that he won't get better, he's been killed."

His lower lip began to tremble. He knew what "killed" was, his pet rabbit had been killed by wolves when he was five. He tried to hold the tears back, he tried to be strong, and he had to be strong - for them. His mother wrapped him in a hug again. Syaoran couldn't hold it in anymore. He let the tear fall; unhindered.

- End Flashback -

By now, Syaoran's intense, fiery amber eyes had become amore golden, dull color. He cringed as he remembered those times in his life. That was the day he had sworn to get revenge on those opium distributors - no matter the cost.

He was about to sit down again when his phone rang.

"Hello? Syaoran speaking," he said into the receiver.

His voice was a little shaky and he tried to get it under control.

"Syaoran, thank goodness you're there," the voice on the other line said. "Are you alright?"

"Meling?" Syaoran asked,

"Yes, it's me. Your mother asked me to call you to see how you were doing," Meling replied.

"Tell her I'm fine. I've settled in here very nicely and my boss is very generous," Syaoran replied smiling a bit.

"Are you smiling?! She's very worried about you! Don't take this lightly!" Meling exclaimed.

"Meling, calm down. I was just smiling because I'm glad she cares so much, but I'm twenty-six now," Syaoran replied.

"Anyway, Aunty wants me to come out there to keep you company. Is that alright with you?" she asked.

There was a long silence.

"Syaoran!? Are you still there?!?" Meling cried frantically.

"Yeah, sorry. It's fine if you want to come out here. I have two extra rooms in the apartment," Syaoran replied.

"Ok, I'll be out there in a couple of weeks. Take care of yourself," Meling said.

"You to Mei," Syaoran replied.

"Bye."

He hung up the phone and leaned against the wall. So his cousin would be coming out. This would prove interesting.

Out of all the females in his family, Meling was the only one who had sworn with Syaoran to get those dirty bastards that murdered his father, so she was also an agent. She was a pretty damn good one too; at least in his opinion.

As he walked to the kitchen to get something to eat he stopped in front of the mirror. Staring at his reflection he tried to smile. People always said that he was the mirror image of his father. Syaoran himself thought that he looked nothing like his father. Sure, throughout his high school, girls had flocked all over him, but he was never interesting in any of them. He was always too busy trying to keep his grades up and keeping himself fit for the Agent searching at the end of the year that the FBI held when they needed new people

Syaoran was always fit, he played on the school's baseball team, the soccer team, the basketball team; he was also on the school's karate team and kendo team.

He sighed as his stomach growled. He hadn't been able to eat anything at all that day. It's not that he felt sick, he was just nervous about his interview with his new boss. All that morning he had worked on his manners and common courtesies. He wanted this job; he needed this transfer.

Syaoran walked into his kitchen to see what he could find. He only had a few things to eat since he had not gone to the store yet. He picked up and apple off of the counter and bit into it.

He wandered around the apartment until he came upon one of the spare rooms. It was filled with boxes, some of which he had not even opened. Meling would probably want this room. The walls were a dusty rose color and the window frames and doors were a soft cream color.

"I should probably finish unpacking, Meling will bite my head off if this place isn't 'homey' enough," he said laughing to himself.

He picked up a box and opened it. Inside, neatly wrapped, was the sword his father had left him. Syaoran slowly took the forest green silk cloth off of it and unsheathed the blade. It was spotless, every inch of it glimmered in the light from the nearby lamp.

- Flashback -

There was a crash of metal against metal ringing in the background. Syaoran watched from his window as his father trained. His eyes followed the path of the sword as it cut through the air.

Yelan stood in the doorway watching her son silently.

"Syaoran," she spoke up.

"Yes mama?" Syaoran replied.

"Your sixth birthday is coming up soon. Why don't you go ask your father what you present is," she suggested.

Syaoran's eyes lit up and he smiled. Yelan smiled back and stepped aside to let him go out. Syaoran charged out of the house towards the training area where his father was. When he got there, he father was resting with the sword across his lap. Syaoran stood there quietly watching to see what his father would do.

"Syaoran," his father said looking up at him with unruly chestnut hair and intense, but handsome eyes.

Syaoran jumped. "Y-yes father?"

He was desperately trying to be on his best behavior

"Syaoran," his father said smiling with a softer look in his eyes.

Syaoran smiled and ran over to sit on the bench next to his father.

"Papa, mama said I could ask you about my present early," Syaoran said.

"Did she now?" his father asked amused. "Well, I'm afraid to tell you this, but you won't get it until I pass on."

Syaoran's shoulders dropped.

"But you can use it to train with if you want to," his father added.

Syaoran's eyes lit up again.

"Really?" he asked.

His father nodded.

"Well? What is it?" Syaoran cried impatiently.

His father lifted the sword from his lap and placed it into Syaoran's. Syaoran was speechless; he had never imagined that he would get his father's sword.

"I... I ... thank you," Syaoran said quietly.

- End Flashback -

Syaoran got up and left the room. He needed a safe place to put the sword where it would not get damaged. It was one of the few things he had left that reminded him of his father.

Syaoran found a spot; there was a cabinet at the end of the hall, where it would be safe. He slowly unpacked the some more of the boxes will into the dark and rainy night.

When he looked up at the clock again it read eleven forty-five, and he decided to head off to bed, for tomorrow he would be meeting his new partner.


	4. Double Timing

Cherry: Oh my God! It's chapter 3 already! Where has the time gone!? Pretty soon I'll be an old lady! NOT! AHAHAH! I SAW A FLOCK OF MOOSEN! Lol, my friend quoted that from something, I'm not sure what. Anyway… on with chapter 3! I'm hoping that you will realize something with this chapter… as I'm going to put it in plain sight. Hopefully you are bright people and will see it right away.

Disclaimer: I don't know why it always takes forever for people to get donuts. It's like a huge burden has been placed on them. I don't know how the donut ladies can stand it, either, always being yelled at. I think they handle it by getting back at you by counting how many donuts you are getting to make you look stupid in front of the other customers. I don't own Card Captor Sakura. Perks given to whomever wrote this... I don't know who did.

Chapter 3: Double Timing

Taichi Himeko was standing in front of a tall building, gazing up at the menacing sky that was raining down on him.

Was it a sign? Maybe, he was going to see his father, to discuss the happenings of the day.

How was he to explain his actions that caused him to be replaced by the cold, amber-eyed, Li Syaoran?

Li, that name seemed familiar; his father or his grandfather had mentioned that name before.

"Oh well," he shrugged and pulled the heavy metal door open

The cool, air conditioned air blew across his face as he entered the building. Upon entering the clerk and the desk picked up the phone.

"Mr. Himeko, your son is here," she said into the phone.

The woman nodded. "Yes sir."  
She hung up the phone and turned to Taichi.

"You may go right in to see him," she said and gestured towards a door to her right.

He took a deep breath and walked over to the door. He held his hand on the knob for a moment before turning it and entering the room.

"My boy how was your day at work? Do you have any news to share with us?" a large, burly man well into his forties asked.

Taichi's body began to tremble and he sat down near his father. There were about six other men in the room, all armed and dressed in ugly, rich, suits. His eyes darted back and forth between the nearest guard and his weapon. It looked like a .45 semi-automatic Colt pistol.

"Father, I have some…unpleasant news to share with you," Taichi began.

This was probably not the best way to start out the conversation, but what other choice did he have? He could not lie to his own father, could he? No, not after everything he had given him.

His father's features darkened and the atmosphere seemed to get a bit denser. Taichi felt the eyes of every person in the room fall on him. He gulped and pulled at his tie.

"Go on," his father's deep voice commanded.

Taichi jumped slightly.

"Well," his voice squeaked and he coughed. "Well, I've…"

"You've what? Taichi, do not make me get angry with you," his father warned.

Taichi looked up to his father with wide eyes.

"I've been replaced. Wait, before you say anything, I haven't been fired and you haven't been figured out yet. I've just had to switch partners," Taichi explained quickly.

"Will you still be able to work with the FBI's top agent?" Mr. Himeko asked.

"Not directly, but I can drop some things onto her desk that will lead her astray if she get any leads to your whereabouts," Taichi replied.

Taichi's father seemed to contemplate what he said for a while. His face twisted this way and that as if he was debating with himself whether or not he believed his son.

"Yuri," a very old and wrinkled man said to Taichi's father.

Yuri turned to the man.

"Yes?" he replied

"Your son's new position may prove helpful. Since he is not working directly with the FBI's top agent, what was his name again?" the man asked and looked to Taichi.

"Her name is Sakura Kinomoto," Taichi replied.

"Since Taichi is not working directly with Kinomoto he gets to spend more time in the office building leading other teams off track if anyone gets wind of our operation," the man finished.

Yuri nodded in agreement.

"Taichi, one more question before you head home to your mother," Yuri said.

"Yes?" Taichi asked.

"Kinomoto's new partner, what is their name?" Mr. Himeko asked, his eyes darkening.

"Some guy named Syaoran Li," Taichi replied.

Suddenly, both his father and the other man started laughing.

"So the little whelp wants to follow in his father's footsteps!" the older man exclaimed.

Taichi turned to him quickly.

"What do you mean grandfather?" he asked.

"I shot and killed his father in Hong Kong," the man replied bluntly, almost gloating.

Taichi's eyes widened. Li, Shouji Li. His grandfather told him a story about an FBI agent he had shot and killed after he had sprung in on a deal they were making with a client from Beijing. So that was the father to the amber-eyed man he met today.

"Taichi, go home now, your mother would kill me to know if you were still out this late," Yuri said.

Taichi stood up and bowed to his father and his grandfather.

"She'll want to know if you'll be home tonight," Taichi said.

"I'll be home, just very late. Tell your mother not to wait up for me," Yuri replied.

Taichi nodded and left the room. The clerk and the desk stopped him before he walked out of the building.

"Young Mr. Himeko, your mother called. She would like you to stop by the store on the way home," she said with a confused look on her face.

Taichi smiled at the clerk.

"Thank you," he replied.

The clerk nodded and returned to her desk.

Taichi grabbed one of the many umbrellas near the door and walked out of the building, back into the pouring rain. That was when two figures ran passed on the other side of the street followed by a group of men. He gave it now second thought and headed to the store to pick up his mother's groceries.

"Dad better come home tonight, mother's been very worried," he said to no one and kicked a rock down the street.

The rain steadily grew worse and Taichi finally had to call for a cab. As he slid into the seat of the taxicab he got the feeling that he was going to do something he was going to regret. Of course, he did not believe in that sort of thing and dismissed the feeling almost instantly. The taxicab pulled up in front of a store and Taichi paid the man to wait.

He went in and got the groceries his mother had called in earlier and headed back out to the taxi. The rain had not lightened up; if anything, it came down harder and harder.

"Where ya to kid?" the taxicab driver asked.

He was a big burly man; over weight, tired, grungy, it looked as if this had been his only job his whole life.

"602 West Yuki Drive," Taichi replied.

The man driving pushed a large red button on his dashboard and sped off down the road.

The part of town in which Taichi lived in was rich. He was rich, though, sometimes he wished he did not know how they got their money. He sighed. When his father got too old, he would have to take over the business. He did not really mind, but to do so, he would have to give up his day job with the FBI, and he would have to give up seeing Sakura.

He had had a crush on the auburn haired girl since he first saw her. Yes, a little childish, but he could not help it. He could not tell her that he liked her; it was not like he could ever take her out without her finding out about his father's business. So, for the year he had been trying to find other girls to like, girls that knew about his father's opium business, and girls that did not object. Of course, this was very difficult to do, as most girls did not want anything to do with an opium distributors son.

The taxi drove up into the driveway of a large two-story mansion. The white marble lined house was amazing. Each room on the upper floor had a small balcony and there was a large porch in the front. A small path led you around the side of the house to the back where there was a large pool and tanning area.

The pool was shaped in a large, elongated oval with a black and white checkerboard pattern of tile on the bottom. The pool itself was spotless, the colors shown through as if it was brand new, just placed there the day before.

The taxicab driver stared at the amazing house, not really knowing what to do next.

Taichi tapped his shoulder. "How much do I owe you?"

The drive turned and stared at him before stuttering out the amount. Taichi climbed out after paying him and walked up the pathway to his door. It was open slightly. Carefully he pushed it open with his back.

"Mother?" he called into the house.

"Master Taichi," a maid exclaimed, rushing over to him to relieve him of the burden of groceries he was carrying. "You should not be carrying these, it is a maid's job."

"Mother asked me to stop by and pick them up, I have no problem with it," he replied.

"Taichi! My child," a voice called from the top of the spiral staircase.

He looked up into the face of his mother. Her hair was long and dark hair and bright blue-silver eyes. She was tall, elegantly slim, and held an aura that gave off an appearance of a proper childhood.

"Hello mother," Taichi replied. "Father said he was going to be late and that you should not stay up to wait for him."

Though it was small, you could see disappointment flash across her face for an instant before it disappeared.

"I should have known as much. Thank you Taichi, for doing what I asked of you," she said.

Taichi nodded.

"But come, tell me of your day," his mother said and slowly walked down the stairs.

As she came closer, she seemed pale and sickly.

"Mother, are you alright?" Taichi asked, stepping towards her and offering his arm.

"It is only a small cold," she replied. "Nothing for you to worry about. Now come. How was your day?"

"Not as well as it could have been mother. I was reassigned partners today."

"Oh you poor thing. That must have made you very upset. You were so attached to your last partner," his mother replied, and patted his arm comfortingly.

They walked into a large, spacious room and sat down on the couch as Taichi recounted the day's events, including what was said at his father's office.


	5. Meetings

Cherry: Oh my! I tried to update chapter 3 on November 26, but the upload device was disabled. But, I am well on my way with this story. I have had a huge bolt of inspiration so, yay! Uh…not much else from my desk so…on with the story.

Disclaimer: taps on a microphone Ahem! microphone squeals loudly Ouch! plugs her ears Anyway, I do not own Card Captor Sakura! microphone squeals again eeeee…. runs away

Chapter 4: Many Meetings

The sun rose over the mountains slowly, its rays of light casting out the shadows that lurked beneath trees and behind the buildings, the water from the rain the night before glistened in the sunshine.

An alarm went off in a small yellow house. Beep, beep, beep. But no one stirred. Beep, beep, beep. But still there was no movement within the room that the sound was emanating from. Beep, beep, beep.

There came a small knock on the door.

"Sakura… Sakura I can hear your alarm all the way down in my room," a groggy, sleep-deprived voice called.

Sakura's eyes were open and ringed with the want of sleep. She had not slept very well the night before, and it didn't help that every position she tried put pressure on her arm.

"Sakura… please. Turn it off," the voice called again.

Temporarily forgetting about her injured arm she reached out with it to turn off the alarm. The pain shot through her body and she stifled a cry of pain. Slowly she lowed her arm and pushed herself up with the other one, then reached over and turned the small, black clock off with the red letters blinking '4:07' at her. Her job started promptly at 5:00 am and she was never late.

Sakura slid out of the bed and dragged her feet as she walked to the wall and flipped the light on, her room was a mess; the clothes she was wearing last night were just dumped in the middle of the floor and the contents of the trashcan she had kicked over were everywhere. She pulled the door open and Tomoyo was leaning against the wall in her pale purple pajamas, asleep.

"Apparently you didn't get much sleep either," Sakura thought, a small, sympathetic smile crossing her face, but then faded.

With her good arm she shook Tomoyo just enough to wake her up.

Tomoyo lifted her head from the wall and looked around, her eyes half open.

"We'd better get ready," Sakura said softly.

Tomoyo nodded and walked towards the bathroom at the end of the hallway and Sakura headed to the other bathroom.

There was a dull throbbing in her arm as she carefully pulled the shirt of her pajamas off. Her shoulder was heavily bruised and she turned her head away. Just looking at it made her feel slightly nauseated.

Slowly she pulled the handle of the shower out and a cascade of water began falling from the showerhead.

She pulled the rest of her pajamas off and stepped into the shower. She let her muscles relax under the comforting feel of the water. To her if felt like it was washing everything away, her pain, her worries, and most of all, the amount of fear she had felt last night. The last time she had felt that much fear was the day she ran away from her stepmother.

She rolled her head back and let the water run down her face, her neck, and then down her body once again. How many showers would it take until she felt free of the pain, worries, and fear that threatened to spill over? One, two, maybe three?

She took a shuddering breath and leaned a hand on the wall in front of her to support herself.

Down the hall, in the other bathroom, Tomoyo was standing in a similar way, except she was crying. Last night had scared her more than anything she had been through with the FBI. She thought the instant Sakura had hit the ground she was going to be gone. She had felt her heart stop beating for a moment.

Sakura and Tomoyo both stepped out of the shower at the same time.

Sakura grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her body snuggly and left the bathroom, walking back to her own room.

Tomoyo grabbed her lavender, terry cloth, bathrobe, slipping over her arms and tied it around her waist. She grabbed a brush from the bathroom and then walked back to her room.

Sakura grabbed a pair of black slacks out of her closet and a white, long sleeve button up shirt, followed by a matching black jacket. Slowly she put them on, carefully moving her arm as little as possible. She looked at herself in the mirror, her hair was once again disheveled, but Tomoyo would have to do it. She grabbed a brush from her dresser and walked down to Tomoyo's room and knocked lightly.

"Tomoyo… I need you to do my hair for me," she said softly.

The door opened right away and Tomoyo was standing there in a dark blue suit similar to Sakura's, but instead of a white shirt she had on a pale blue one with alternating thin and thick black stripes.

"How's your shoulder doing?" Tomoyo asked once Sakura was sitting in a chair.

"My shoulder is just about all black and blue and it hurts to make a lot of movements, but other than that, I guess you could say fine," Sakura replied.

The dull throbbing was still there, and if anything, it ha become a little more noticeable.

Tomoyo nodded and pulled Sakura's hair back into a French braid and tied it together with a black hair tie.

"There you go," Tomoyo said and tucked a few loose ends behind Sakura's ears.

Sakura smiled at her and stood up. Tomoyo quickly pulled her hair into two long braids and wrapped them around each other and pinning them up off her neck.

"We should get going," Tomoyo said and looked at the clock on her nightstand.

Sakura looked at the clock too, '4:45' it read in bright red letters. Sakura sighed and walked out of Tomoyo's room and down the stairs to the front door. She took a quick look out the window, and upon seeing the clear sky she slipped her shoes on and opened the door. The vending machine in the headquarters would be put to use yet again today.

Tomoyo came down just after she did, slipping her shoes on and grabbing both her and Sakura's jackets. The weather in Tomoeda was always changing and whenever Sakura left her jacket at home, it would be a day that was either cold, or rainy.

Sakura got to their car parked in the driveway and reached for the driver's door, then stopped with her hand resting on the handle. How was she going to drive with her shoulder? And sitting in the driver's seat with the seatbelt on would aggravate her shoulder even more than it was already.

"Tomoyo, you'll have to drive," Sakura said, walking around the car again getting into the passenger's seat.

Tomoyo smiled at her friend. Sakura was used to being in control of everything, and now, with her shoulder, she wasn't. Her expression changed immediately as she remembered something she should never have forgotten. She quickly climbed into the driver's seat and drove off towards headquarters.

"How could I have forgotten?" Tomoyo asked herself silently.

There was a small smile of mischief playing on her face and Sakura noticed it.

"Tomoyo, what are you smiling at?" She asked.

"Oh, it's nothing, I just remembered something that I shouldn't have forgotten," was her reply.

"Are you going to elaborate?" Sakura asked, already knowing the answer would be no with a sly smile.

"No," Tomoyo replied, giving her a sly smile.

They drove for ten minutes and the arrived at headquarters. Tomoyo pulled the black Honda Accord into the parking structure and parked near the elevator that led up into the offices.

Sakura climbed out and walked to the elevator after grabbing her jacket that Tomoyo had brought with them.

"She'd never let me leave it in the car," Sakura thought.

Tomoyo followed her, her own jacket draped over her arm.

Sakura punched the button to go up. The door opened and the two women stepped in, the doors closing behind them. Tomoyo pushed the sixth floor button and the elevator started to move.

Sakura leaned against the wall softly, trying not to put any weight on her shoulder as she did so.

"Sakura will be so surprised…" Tomoyo thought happily. "She's getting a new partner! Oh… I should probably tell Mr. Kinomaka about Sakura's injury…"

"Tomoyo… don't tell Mr. Kinomaka about my shoulder. I don't want to stay inside until it heals. I can't stand desk work," Sakura said softly and looked over at Tomoyo.

Tomoyo looked at her sadly. "But… what if you get hurt even worse?"

"Just don't tell anyone, alright?" Sakura said very seriously.

Tomoyo nodded and the doors to the elevator opened to the quiet office floor.

There were quite a few people here, many already at work with paper work as Sakura and Tomoyo passed.

"Hello Ms. Kinomoto, Ms. Daidouji," the secretary said as they passed and marked them down as being in the office today.

"Good morning Mrs. Izu," Tomoyo replied.

Sakura walked to her desk and started to sit down when she noticed something was missing. She looked up at the desk across form her.

"Where is Taichi's stuff?" she asked quietly.

"Oh, you don't know?" another field agent asked as they were passing by.

"Know what?" Sakura asked and looked up at the person.

"He got reassigned. You have a new partner," the agent said and continued walking.

Sakura's mouth hung open and she digested the information. "Reassigned? New partner?" she thought.

Her eyes widened and a smile spread across her face. "Yes!" she cried out loud and then quickly covered her mouth with her right hand.

A few agents looked at her in surprise.

"Damn… after three years I finally get a new partner!" she thought quickly. "But who? Is it an agent that already works here?"

That's when she noticed the name plaque on the desk. She reached over for it with her good hand when the intercom on her desk beeped at her. She jerked her arm back in surprise and pushed the intercom button.

"Kinomoto speaking," she said and grabbed a pen from her desk.

"Kinomoto, come to my office now. I have someone I want you to meet," the voice form the other line said.

"Mr. Kinomaka, would it by any chance, be my new partner?" she asked, unable to hide the joy in her voice, or the smile.

"Just come to my office," her boss replied, his voice a little lighter.

Sakura pushed the button again and headed for Mr. Kinomaka's office. She started to knock on the door when it opened before her. It was Mr. Kinomaka.

"Please, sit," he said and closed the door behind her.

Sakura sat down in the overly stuffed brown chair again and looked to her left, there was no one there.

"As you well know already, I have a new partner for you. Your newest assignment will require the aid of a partner and Taichi isn't the person to help you with it," Mr. Kinomaka said as he sat down in his black chair, resting his arms on his desk.

Sakura nodded. "Is my new partner a member of the team already stationed here?"

"No, he's new. He came over from Hong Kong yesterday. We sent for him a couple weeks ago. You would have met him yesterday, but Daidouji called you both in sick and you were unable to see him."

Sakura nodded again. "Chinese then," she thought.

"Mr. Kinomaka," a voice from the phone called.

"Yes Mrs. Izu?" Mr. Kinomaka replied.

"Mr. Li has arrived. Would you like me to send him in?" Mrs. Izu asked.

"Yes, please do," Mr. Kinomaka replied.

There was a light knock on the door and Sakura and Kinomaka stood up. The door opened and a tall man stepped in. His chestnut hair was messy and untamed, but it looked good. Sakura looked him over quickly, his muscles were toned and visible through his white shirt and Sakura momentarily felt her heart flutter.

"What am I thinking!?" Sakura chastised herself silently.

"Mr. Li, this is Kinomoto Sakura, your partner," Mr. Kinomaka said, indicating in Sakura's direction.

Sakura felt a small blush creep into her face as the man before her extended his hand for a shake. She limply took his hand and he gave her a quick, sharp shake, sending a bolt of pain up through her arm and down her other one.

Sakura paled slightly.

"Kinomoto, are you alright?" Mr. Kinomaka asked.

"Yes sir, I'm fine," Sakura replied quickly and sat back down.

Syaoran sat down next to her and Mr. Kinomaka returned to his seat as well.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Sakura looking at anything and everything that wasn't her new partner, Syaoran staring at Mr. Kinomaka's desk, and Mr. Kinomaka himself looking down at his hands that were folded on his desk.

"Li, Kinomoto," Mr. Kinomaka started.

Sakura and Syaoran looked up at him.

"The assignment I am about to give is dangerous. It will put both of your lives at risk of injury or worse, death," he continued.

Their faces were blank as they listened.

"Death?" Sakura thought. "I've never had an assignment like that…."

"Sir," Syaoran interjected.

Sakura looked at him.

"Not to rush you or anything, but, what IS our assignment?" he finished.

Mr. Kinomaka smiled slightly, before narrowing his eyes and looking at some paperwork on his desk. "We've received a lead on an opium distributor here in Japan. Specifically in Tomoeda."

Syaoran's face hardened considerably, he turned his face away as his eyes darkened.

"Sir, does this have anything to do with that folder I acquired a few days ago?" Sakura asked.

"Actually, yes. It has everything to do with the folder," Mr. Kinomaka replied. "The folder contained some information about the whereabouts of the distributor, but that was all. We need you to find out who this guy is, what his plans for the future are, and then set up a take down where we can arrest him and send him to jail where he belongs."

Sakura nodded. This was going to be a difficult assignment; that was evident. If it wasn't: she would never have been given a new partner. She looked over at Syaoran, who still had his head turned away, and then back at Mr. Kinomaka.

"Other than the lead that the dealer is in Tomoeda, do we have anything else to go off of?" Sakura asked.

"Sadly, no. We were supposed to receive another envelope yesterday, but I received word that the deliverer had been killed in a car accident on his way to the drop off point," Mr. Kinomaka replied, looking down at his desk.

"Car accident?" Sakura thought.

Surely something like that couldn't have been an accident. Could it? A man, delivering information, killed in a car accident. It was too cliché.

"Was the folder in the car?" Syaoran asked.

"No," Kinomaka replied.

Sakura and Syaoran looked at each other.

"It wasn't an accident then," they both said.

"My thoughts exactly. I need you two to go down to the morgue and talk to the coroner. You need to find out the exact cause of death. They police report that was filed said that though the window was cracked all over that was a small hole, but they found no bullet wound on the deceased," their boss finished.

Sakura and Syaoran nodded and stood to leave.

"Both of you be careful. Kinomoto, you are my top agent here, Li, you were sent because you were the top in China. I'm counting on you two to find this guy, and you both better survive it," he finished and turned the back of the chair on them.

Sakura looked at the back of the chair for a moment before exiting the room and heading back to her desk. She sat down at her desk and picked the pen up that she had sent down on her way to Mr. Kinomaka's office, and a piece of paper. She scribbled a quick note on it for Tomoyo and folded it in half.

"Let's go Li," she said, standing up and grabbing her jacket.

"You can call me Syaoran. I don't really like it when people call me by my surname," Syaoran replied.

Sakura nodded and continued walking to Mrs. Izu's desk at the front.

"Mrs. Izu, could you get this note to Tomoyo for me? My partner and I have to go out for some work and I'm not sure when I'll be back," Sakura said.

"No problem," Mrs. Izu replied, taking the note. "I'll take it to her myself."

She stood up from her desk and head off towards conference room where Tomoyo was.

"Do you mind if I stop by the vending machine quickly? I wasn't able to eat anything this morning at home," Sakura explained.

"Go ahead, I could use something to eat, myself," Syaoran replied.

The walked to the vending machine and got a couple things to eat then headed out.

They entered the elevator and Syaoran pushed the button for the parking garage.

Then it hit her. Whose vehicle were they going to use? Sakura couldn't drive right now, and there was no way she could tell Li that right away. He'd send her back up to the offices.

"We'll take my car," he said quietly. "Since headquarters is paying for the gas it doesn't matter."

"Right," Sakura replied, trying to conceal her relief.

"So, Kinomoto, do you have a first name I can call you? Or are you only going by your surname?" he asked.

"My name is Sakura," she replied.

"That's a nice name," Syaoran said. "God, what does it take to get this person to talk?" he added in thought.

"How much background training do you have in the FBI?" Sakura asked.

"Seven years, you?" Syaoran replied.

"Six. I started when I turned nineteen," Sakura said, looking at his face.

"What a coincidence, so did I," he replied, giving her a kind of half smile.

"He seems troubled by something…" Sakura thought as she examined his face before looking away.

The doors on the elevator opened and the two stepped out.

"So, what kind of car do you drive?" Sakura asked.

"1964 Mustang, fully restored," Syaoran said with just a hit of pride. "My mother got it imported from the America."

"I see," Sakura replied. "He's rich then, just like Taichi. He'll probably end up being a jack-ass, just like every other rich person." She added bitterly in her mind, a slightly disgusted look on her face.


	6. Clue 1

Cherry: Yay! Chapter 5 is finally here! I am really proud of this story. It's come a long way since the idea first popped into my head. And a lot of the stuff in the story has evolved so well. sighs happily Anyway, On with the chapter!

Disclaimer: ...I'm going to hold off on the snide remarks to all you dimwits out there who may believe that I'm trying to steal Clamp's works.

Chapter 5: Clue 1

The ride to the city morgue was all but short, but to Sakura's surprise, the Mustang that Syaoran has was far from being just a toy. And though he was bragging, Sakura really didn't mind listening to the story about it.

Though his mother hand imported the car to his home, it was in pieces and rusted. Syaoran had rebuilt it from the ground up.

The morgue was a dull building. The stucco was a pale gray color and the door was steel and heavy.

The two entered the building and the receptionist gave them access tot he lab.

"Ah, you must be Kinomoto and Li. Mr. Kinomaka told me you would be stopping by," a girl, roughly Sakura's age said.

She had short, cropped brown hair, and circular glasses.

"Yes, where is the body from the car accident?" Syaoran questioned.

"Right over here," the girl said, walking to a huge, file cabinet-type thing and pulled a draw out.

Sakura drew back at the smell that accompanied the body.

"Here," the girl said as she handed them two masks and two sets of gloves. "I haven't done as extensive a search as I would like to do. I've been quite busy."

"No problem," Syaoran replied.

The body was mangles from the car accident.

"He was pinned against the dashboard and the steering wheel. I am pretty sure that was the cause of death, but, there was something odd about it. There is a bruise where the heart is located," the girl said.

Sakura looked where the coroner was pointing. "That looks like my shoulder..." she said absentmindedly.

Syaoran gave her a quick glance before looking back at the body. "Would a bruise like that be the result of an injection?"

"It very well could be, like I said, I haven't had much time to do an extensive examination."

Sakura nodded. "Miss...uh..."

"Yanagisawa," the girl replied. "Naoko Yanagisawa."

"Alright Ms. Yanagisawa, this is under a full FBI investigation and we would really appreciate it if you could give us the blood work test by tomorrow. We need to know if there are any drugs in his body," Sakura explained.

"Alright," Naoko replied hesitantly. "Tomorrow will be cutting it close," she added in thought.

Sakura and Syaoran exited the morgue and got back into Syaoran's car.

"What did you mean that the bruise on the body looked like your shoulder?" syaoran asked while they were stopped at a red light.

"What?" Sakura asked turning to him.

"What is wrong with your shoulder?" Syaoran asked again, a bit more sternly.

"Nothing, I meant to say that it looked like my shoulder a few months ago," Sakura replied quickly.

"She's lying to me..." Syaoran thought, but did not continue.

"We should probably find the car he was driving," Sakura said, changing the subject.

"I was already planning to," Syaoran replied.

"That was too close," Sakura thought.

Once they reached the junkyard, it was more difficult to locate the car from the wreck than Sakura and Syaoran thought it would be. There were so many black and silver sporty utility vehicles than one could imagine, and it too the better part of the day to find.

Once they reached the car, Sakura moved the door out of the way. It was not even attached.

"Damn," she said softly as the inside of the car was revealed.

There was blood everywhere, glass from the shattered windows was sprayed all over and the seat and the steering wheel seemed to be one. The windshield was bent almost in half and the cracks spread across its length like a spider web. But it's origin was a hole about the size of a dime.

"That has to be where the dart filled with opium entered," Sakura said, pointing to the small hole.

Syaoran jerked the other door off and look around on the floor.

"With the location of that hold, the dark would have had to land somewhere under the seat...but after the truck smashed into it, it could have slid around," Syaoran said.

"Wouldn't it have stuck in his chest?" Sakura asked thoughtfully.

Syaoran looked up at her.

"You're right," he said.

Sakura looked at him. "One of the opium distributor's men must have taken it back when they pulled the files out of the car."

Syaoran sighed.

Sakura looked down at her watch. It read '7:07.' "We might as well head back to headquarters. It's past seven."

Syaoran nodded and started back to his car.

When they got back to headquarters there were only a few people still there. Tomoyo wasn't one of them.

Sakura sighed as she picked up the note that was on her desk. Written in nice, even letters was: _"Sakura, Eriol asked me to dinner so I decided to go. Hope you don't mind. I took the keys to the car with me so you can't drive home and aggravate your shoulder. Hope you find a ride home. Bye. Tomoyo."_

Sakura turned to Syaoran. "Do you think you could drop me off at home? Tomoyo took the keys to our car with her and she went out to dinner with a colleague."

"Sure," Syaoran replied.

"Thanks," Sakura said and grabbed her overcoat off her chair where she had left it that morning.

They walked back out to the car and Sakura gave him the directions to her house.

"See you in the morning," Syaoran said after Sakura got out of the car.

"Yeah," Sakura replied and watched him drive off. "He's not so back..."

Sakura walked to the door and rummaged around in her purse for her keys. Then she froze. Her house keys were on the car keys, and the car keys were with Tomoyo.

"Shit," sakura said and looked around.

Syaoran's car was just pulling away from the stop sign. She ran after him.

Syaoran briefly checked his rear-view mirror and saw Sakura running after him.

"What is she doing?" he asked himself.

He pulled over to the side of the street to wait for her. Sakura run up to the car, out of breath.

"Tomoyo," she said taking aa deep breath, filling her lungs, "has the keys to the house as well. I'm really sorry about this."

The corner of Syaoran's mouth twitched as he held back a slight laugh. "Well, get in."

Sakura opened the door to the Rangoon red Mustang and slid into the beige, soft leather seats once again. She sighed, "Tomoyo could have at least left my house key."

Syaoran shrugged and stepped on the gas.

"I feel like a fucking idiot," Sakura thought as she looked out the passenger side window.

The drive to Syaoran's apartment wasn't that long. But their stomachs growled as they passed the many restaurants that were serving dinner.

"Damn, I'm so hungry, it feels like I haven't eaten in days," Syaoran said as he tossed his keys onto a cabinet by the door and slipped his jacket off.

Sakura was a little apprehensive upon enter Syaoran's apartment. The first thing she noticed was the sword, all the way at the other end of the house. Surprisingly, it was gleaming brightly in the dull light from the kitchen.

"Make yourself comfortable for now. I'll order some food," Syaoran's voice called from the kitchen.

"Right," Sakura replied, carefully slipping her jacket off and hanging it by the door.

She slipped her shoes off and then walked into the living room. It wasn't huge, but it was pretty spacious. She hesitantly sat down on the edge of the sofa.

"Why am I so..." she thought, searching for the right word, "nervous?"

She usually wasn't the kind of girl to get nervous around boys, she'd grown up with an older brother, so his friends used to come over all the time, that was, before her father re-married. She scowled.

"Anything wrong?" Syaoran asked when he saw the look on her face.

Sakura looked up at him. "What?"

"I asked if anything was wrong," Syaoran repeated, slouching down on the other side of the sofa.

Sakura thought how best to answer his question; there were many things wrong, but could she trust him enough to tell him her secrets? "No, I'm fine," she finally said.

"Lie number two..." Syaoran thought.

Something was definitely wrong, but he decided not to probe. He'd only met her that day and they hadn't set up any trust factors yet.

The room was silent as Sakura sat on the edge of the sofa, her hands in her lap, and Syaoran slouched down.

"I'll be right back," Syaoran said and stood up, leaving the room.

Sakura nodded and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Damn you Tomoyo... you did this on purpose..." she thought.

The lighting was soft with the flickering candles and the dark, star filled night. The moon was waning.

"This restaurant is lovely Eriol," tomoyo said as she smoothed out the napkin in her lap for the fortieth time.

Eriol has his elbows on the table and his fingers laced under his chin, smiling. "So you have said."

Tomoyo laughed. "But it's the truth."

"Tomoyo," he began, he suddenly seemed nervous.

"Yes?" Tomoyo replied, picking up the glass of wine off the table.

"I was...wondering," he went on slowly.

"Oh, please tell me you want to make us official..." tomoyo silently hoped, as she waited for him to continue.

Eriol opened his mouth to continue, but the waiter walked up. "Good evening, are you ready to order?"

Eriol dropped his hands, "I believe so."

Tomoyo's heart dropped a little. "Maybe next time..." she thought.

"What may I get for you miss?" the waiter asked.

"I'll take the Pollo Baccio," Tomoyo replied.

The waiter scribbled her order down and then turned to Eriol. "And you sir?"

"I'll have the Capellini Filletto di Pomodoro," Eriol answered.

"Is there anything else you would like? An appetizer?" the waiter asked, pen poised.

Eriol looked at Tomoyo and she shook her head. "No thank you," he replied.

"Alright, I'll get right on your order," he replied, scooping up their menus.

After the waiter disappeared into the sea of other people dressed in black slacks and white shirts, the table was silent.

"So," both said at the same time after a few minutes of unbearable silence.

"You go ahead," Tomoyo blurted out before Eriol could say anything.

"Uh... how is life with Kinomoto? Crazy as ever?" Eriol asked and looked down at the table.

Tomoyo sighed inwardly. "It's crazy, but I'm not complaining. At least I'm not living a boring life." She laughed.

Eriol smiled. "Where did my courage go?" he thought.

Tomoyo smiled bak and then their food arrived.

There was a knock on the door and Syaoran got up to get it. He had changed into a dark green t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans that made Sakura's heart beat faster and faster.

"Sakura, get yourself under control!" she mentally yelled at herself and looked down at her hands, she could feel all the blood rushing to her face.

"Thanks," Syaoran said and closed the door. He was holding two bags of Chinese take-out.

The smell was unbelievable, the aroma of sesame chicken, the sweet smell of egg rolls and the spicy mustard to go with it. The smell of the fried rice was delicious, Sakura thought her sense of smell was going to overload. She followed Syaoran into the kitchen.

Syaoran quickly pulled two plates and two bowls out of a cabinet and handed a set to Sakura. Then he pulled a drawer open and pulled out two sets of chopsticks. "Help yourself," he said after handing her the chopsticks.

"Thank you. I'll pay you back for my portion of the food," Sakura replied as she scooped some rice into the bowl and set some chicken and egg rolls onto the plate.

Syaoran shrugged and walked to the dinning room table and sat down. He seemed to be deep in concentration.

Sakura sat down across from him and slowly ate.

"Out of curiosity," Syaoran started.

Sakura looked at him, chopsticks halfway to her mouth. "Yes?"

"How long have you been tracking down this opium distributor?" he went on. His face was drawn and his eyes were dark.

"Well...I guess you could say for about two months, but Kinomaka only told us the other day, you were there, what exactly we were doing. I mean, he has sent use out for some pretty strange stuff that, up until now, I only thought was for other cases," Sakura said quickly.

Syaoran did not reply.

The silence was brutal. Sakura did not know what to say, or do, for that matter.

"This is so awkward..." she thought.

Sakura had her head down, but she was watching Syaoran closely. His eyes went from dark and angry to depressed and dull. He gave a quick shake of his head and started eating.

The muffled sound of a cell phone ring came and it took a few moment for Sakura to realize that it was hers.

"Oh!" she gasped and pushed back in the chair, hurrying over to her purse to dig out her cell phone. "Hello?" she said into the device.

"Sakura! Where are you?" Tomoyo's frantic voice exclaimed through the earpiece.

"I'm at Li's house, you took the car keys and my house key was on them," Sakura replied, holding the phone a little ways away from her ear.

There was a loud crack and there was nothing on the other end of the line.

"Tomoyo?" Sakura called. "Tomoyo?"

Syaoran turned to look at her. "Is something wrong?"

"TOMOYO!" Sakura called into her cell phone again. "Oh my God.."

Syaoran was at her side. "What is it?"

"Sh-she was just there...damn it! You have to take me home! She's not responding on the phone!" Sakura said, quickly grabbing her purse and jacket, but refusing to hang up the phone.

Syaoran grabbed his coat and keys, slipping on his shoes and hurrying out the door, Sakura was close behind.

It happened so quickly. One minute she was talking to Sakura, and the next she woke up in the hospital with a splitting headache. Tomoyo looked around, she was a little disoriented and her eyes had a hard time focusing.

"Where-" she started.

"Tomoyo!" Sakura exclaimed and was at her side. "Tomoyo, it's me. Are you ok?"

"Sakura... what... what happened?" tomoyo asked and tried to sit up.

Sakura wouldn't let her.

"You were hit in the head with a bat and then your purse was stolen," Sakura explained.

Tomoyo felt the back of here head; there were stitches. She laughed softly. Sakura was confused.

"Why...why are you laughing?" she asked.

"I never pictured myself getting mugged...it was always you," she replied with a smile.

Sakura frowned. "Why thank you..." she said sarcastically. "Anyway, you really could have left me my house key, then this wouldn't have happened."

"But Sakura, I did leave you your house key. I put it in your coat pocket," Tomoyo said.

"Fuck," Sakura thought as she stuck her hand in her pocket and felt the cold metal of the key. "Best not to mention this to Li..." she added.

The doctor walked in and picked up the clipboard from the end of the bed.

"Well Ms. Daidouji, I see you are awake. How are you feeling?" he asked, checking things off the chart.

"I have a headache, but that's about it. How bad was the injury?" Tomoyo asked.

"You have a slight concussion and there was a pretty deep cut on the back of your head, but we stitched that right up. You can't wash your hair for a week," he explained, his dark hair falling in his eyes while he continued to look at the chart.

Sakura squeezed Tomoyo's hand in comfort.

"How long will she have to stay here?" Sakura asked, not looking at the doctor.

"A few days, we want to make sure that as a result of the blow, her brain doesn't swell," he replied, looking up, noticing that there was another person in the room.

His eyes widened in shock when he saw Sakura.

But Sakura still did not look at the doctor.

"Alright. No Tomoyo, I'll talk to Kinomaka so don't you worry about it. And I'll talk to Eriol too, he'll be worried sick about you," she said.

Tomoyo merely smiled at her.

"I'll check in on you again tomorrow," the doctor said and left the room quickly.

"I should probably be going too...I'll stop by tomorrow after work," Sakura explained, standing up.

"You don't have to, you know. I'm a big girl," Tomoyo replied.

Sakura shook her head. "We'll need a new set of keys for the car."

Tomoyo nodded.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow," she said and walked out the door.

"She's such a good friend..." Tomoyo thought and looked out the window of her room.

Sakura met Syaoran in the waiting room.

"How is she?" Syaoran asked when she stopped in front of him.

"The doctor said she'll be fine, but he wants to keep her here for a few days to monitor her," she replied.

Syaoran nodded.

"Well, I got the house key, it was in her pocket so the muggers didn't get it," she said, pulling the key out of her own pocket. "So, if you don't mind, could you take me home one more time?"

"Yeah," Syaoran replied, "let's go."

The two left the hospital and Syaoran waited until Sakura was inside the house before he left.


	7. Getting To Know You

Cherry: Gah! Something happened in chapter five, and I wasn't quite ready for it. . Oh well... I guess the unexpected can lead to great things. Lol. Someone asked me what opium was and here is a definition: a bitter, yellowish-brown, strongly addictive narcotic drug prepared from the dried juice of unripe pods of the opium poppy and containing alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, and papaverine. I will put some more information up at the end of the chapter for those of you who would like to know more. Oh yes! And thank you to the reviewer who corrected Meiling's name. It turns out that I didn't realize my computer was changing it. Apparently "Meling" was in my dictionary, but not "Meiling." Thanks again for telling me!

Disclaimer: Own Card Captor Sakura, I do not.

Chapter 6: Getting To Know You

The next morning Sakura was up well before the sun, though it was only because she couldn't sleep.

She was in the kitchen making a pot of coffee when the phone rang.

"Hello?" she said into the receiver.

"Kinomoto, it's Li," the voice replied.

Sakura was taken aback slightly; it was 3:45 in the morning. "Hi... is there something wrong?" She also remembered never having given Syaoran her home phone number.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm just at headquarters right now. The results on the blood work from the lab came back," Syaoran explained.

"What did Ms. Yanagisawa find?" Sakura asked.

"It was opium, we were right. And the dart was carefully aimed right in the center of the heart. After the opium was injected into the heart, he would have died moments later. He was dead long before the truck crashed into him," Syaoran said.

Sakura was quiet for a moment. "This distributor must be planning something big..."

"Yeah, well, I've already spoken to Mr. Kinomaka about this, he told us to visit the deceased's work place to see if we can find anything there," Syaoran continued.

"Alright, I'll meet you at headquarters in an hour," she replied.

"...he also said that we need to get to know each other. He said trust was going to be the only thing that gets us through this," Syaoran finished.

Sakura was silent. "It's just like Kinomaka to do this..." she thought.

"I'll see you in an hour. Bye," Syaoran said and hung up the phone.

Sakura set her phone down after turning it off. "Trust, huh?" she said softly.

The buzzer on the coffee maker went off and Sakura poured it into a traveling mug and set out for the bus station.

Syaoran leaned back in his chair, thinking deeply. He was not ready to tell her his true motives for taking this job transfer, he wasn't sure she could handle his truth. After all, the only people who know this was revenge were his mother and Meling. But he was going to get a few of her secrets out in the open.

The bus was cramped and smelly, and Sakura held back a gag. The bus was always horrible, and the smell was hard to get off your body. Luckily, Sakura came prepared for it; she carried her perfume bottle around with her.

The nearest stop to the FBI headquarters was two blocks away. Any unauthorized vehicles were prohibited and that law was firmly acted upon.

Today was casual day at work and Sakura was ever so grateful that she could wear comfortable clothes. She had on a pair of white sneakers and a pair of blue jeans that hugged her legs and hips in just the right places. With this, she wore a two layer, turtleneck, long-sleeve shirt, the top shirt being pink, and the bottom shirt that hung out slightly below the pink one, was white. Over that she had on a forest green pea coat.

The days were getting colder and shorter; fall was coming.

After scanning her badge and having her hands scanned as well, she entered the building and walked to the elevator.

She pressed the button labeled six and leaned against the wall. Her shoulder didn't feel any better than it had the other day, and it seemed that the bruise was spreading down her arm and across her collar bone.

She stepped out of the elevator just as the clock struck five o'clock; the bus had been running late. She finished the rest of her coffee as she walked towards her desk, and Syaoran.

He was leaned back in the chair, his chin against his chest and his eyes closed. She set her coffee mug on her desk and pulled her chair out to sit down.

A mumble came from Syaoran's mouth and Sakura looked up from the papers on her desk. Another mumble came and Sakura was sure he had said "Daddy."

"L-..." she started, but remembered how he told her to call him by his first name. "Syaoran, wake up."

He twitched slightly.

"Syaoran!" she said just loud enough to wake him.

His eyes blinked open and he looked around. "What happened?"

"You were asleep and mumbling," Sakura replied, picking up the paper in front of her with the lab results on it.

"Oh boy..." Syaoran though. "I hope I didn't say anything she could understand..."

Another agent walked by and handed something to Sakura. She read over the paper.

"It looks like our deceased's name was Hayate Wakaouji, and he worked at a copy shop down on Spring Valley Road," Sakura said.

"That's about twenty minutes from here," Syaoran said.

"Yeah, but they don't open until ten... we have five hours until we can get there," Sakura explained with a sigh.

There was silence between them, but each knew what the other was thinking. They had to get to know each other, Kinomaka had told them to.

"Do you want to go get some breakfast?" Sakura asked after staring at the paper in front of her, trying to ignore the little voice in her head that told her to ask questions about his past.

"Sounds good to me," Syaoran replied, pushing back in his chair and pulled his black jacket off the back of his chair and pulling it on.

Sakura stood up too, pulling the jacket she has just taken off 10 minutes ago back on. "Any place special you'd like to go?"

"We could drive around until we find something that sounds good," he suggested.

Sakura shrugged. "Sure, that'll work."

After about twenty minutes of driving around looking at all the restaurants, the found a little restaurant to eat at.

"I don't think I've ever been here before," Sakura said as they walked through the door.

"Then it'll be an experience for the both of us," Syaoran said as he sat down at a table.

A waitress walked by and set down two menus. "I'll be back in a few moments to take your orders," she said and walked off to a table where an impatient tourist was calling for more coffee.

Sakura picked up her menu and started skimming it, looking for anything that caught her eye or sounded good. She peeked over the edge of the menu and watch Syaoran's eyes move as he read the menu. "God is he hot," she thought. Startled by her thought she quickly looked back down at the menu. "What am I thinking? I can't fall for my partner…that would be too awkward. Shit…what am I going to do?"

The waitress walked back over, her pad of paper out. "What can I get for you two?" she asked.

Syaoran looked at Sakura before looking back at the waitress. "Could you give us a few more minutes please?"

"Sure thing. Is there anything I can get you to drink though?" she asked.

"I'll take a coffee, black," Syaoran replied.

"And for you?" the waitress asked.

"I'll take water," Sakura replied.

The waitress walked off again to get their drinks.

"Find anything to eat?" Syaoran asked.

"I'm still looking," Sakura replied from behind the menu. "What about you?"

"I think I'm going to get a ham and cheese omelet," he replied.

Sakura nodded, but he couldn't see it, her face was pretty well hidden behind the menu.

The waitress walked back over and set down the drinks. "Are you ready now? Or do you need a few more minutes?"

"I'll take a ham and cheese omelet, hash browns on the side," Syaoran said.

"And for you?" she asked turning to Sakura once again.

"I'll take… French toast with bacon and sausage," Sakura replied.

"Anything else?" the waitress asked.

"That'll do it," Sakura and Syaoran replied at the same time.

The waitress nodded and walked off after taking their menus. "Such a cute couple," she thought.

The silence was deafening. Sakura tried to look everywhere but at Syaoran as she tried to suppress the feelings that were rising. She could not, would not fall in love with him. It would complicate things. She sighed. She desperately needed to talk to Tomoyo.

Syaoran looked up at her when she sighed. Something was definitely going through her head, and he wanted to know what it was.

"Are you ok?" he asked, leaning forward.

"What?" Sakura asked looking up at him. "Oh, yes, I'm fine…just thinking."

"Kinomaka told us to get to know each other. And the only way we're going to do that, is to talk to each other," Syaoran said, his eye boring into hers.

Sakura suppressed a shudder as she felt him searching her soul for answers. "Then we'll start with you," she said suddenly. "Why are you an agent?"

Syaoran's face tightened slightly and his eyes darkened. "I made a promise to someone a long time ago."

Sakura watched his face. "That's not all, I can sense it," she thought, but did not push the question any further.

Syaoran's face relaxed. "My turn to ask a question."

Sakura tried to form every possible question in her mind to prepare an answer. She had secrets, who didn't? But did she really want Syaoran knowing about them all just yet? The answer was easy: no.

"What is wrong with your shoulder?" he asked, his eyes locked on her.

Sakura blanched. This was one question she hadn't expected. Her eyes unfocused as she tried to think of some way to answer him; she had already lied to him about it, could she really do it again, or would she be pushing her luck?

Syaoran watched her closely. He could read her face like a book. She wasn't trying very hard to conceal her emotions.

"If I tell you," she began. "You have to promise not to say anything to anyone else."

"It depends on how serious it is," Syaoran replied.

Sakura looked up at him. "You have to promise me."

Syaoran looked into her eyes and reluctantly nodded.

"Tomoyo and I went for a run the other day. Everything seemed fine to begin with, but when we reached the park, storm clouds formed and it started raining and getting later and later. Tomoeda isn't the best place to be after dark," Sakura started to explain. "We couldn't call for any rides to come pick us up, I had left my cell phone on my dresser and Tomoyo's had gone dead during our run. So we decided just to run as fast as we could back home, but as we were doing so, this group of people started to follow us. We tried to ignore them, but the kept gaining on us and they had baseball bats and everything. We were almost home, so I pushed Tomoyo to go faster, but I tripped…"

Syaoran was staring at her, shock in his eyes. "Why didn't she tell anyone about this?" he thought.

"I slid across the pavement and hit the wall of the sidewalk, dislocating my shoulder," Sakura continued. "I pushed myself up off the ground and ran towards the house. The group that was chasing us was so close, but I made it to the house in time and Tomoyo slammed the door and locked it. Then she put my shoulder back in place," she concluded.

Syaoran just stared at her.

Sakura looked down at her plate. She had to admit; telling someone about what happened had really made her feel better.

The waitress came back and set their plates down. "If you two need anything, just wave me down," she said and walked off.

"Why…why didn't you tell anyone?" Syaoran asked, finding his voice.

"If you had to choose between sitting at your desk all day or actually searching for someone responsible for a couple deaths and countless other indictments, what would you choose?" Sakura asked, raising her head to look at him.

He nodded, understanding where she was coming from. I mean, if he was in her shoes he probably wouldn't have told anyone either.

Sakura sighed with relief as she saw that he understood. "So now that you know…"

"It's your turn to ask me a question," he cut in.

Sakura mentally thanked him for changing the subject. She was quiet for a moment, trying to think of something to ask him. "This may sound a bit childish, but, what do you like to do in your spare time?"

Syaoran shrugged. "I haven't ever really had much spare time. Most of my time was spent training and keeping in shape to be able to get into the FBI."

Sakura nodded. "What is your favorite color?"

"Hey, we agreed earlier that once you asked a question, I got to ask a question," Syaoran replied.

"Damn," Sakura thought. There was not any way she could be prepared for the questions he would ask.

Syaoran seemed to be pondering a proper question to ask. So Sakura stuck her French toast with her fork and pulled a piece off and stuck it in her mouth.

Tomoyo lie in the hospital bed, a few magazines scattered around her. Her hair had been pulled to the sides in two loose pigtails to get it away from her stitches. She couldn't say that it didn't itch, because it did, badly. It took everything she had to not scratch it. She ripped another picture out of the magazine and set it on top of the others. With all this spare time, she had decided that she and Sakura needed to go clothes shopping. Their wardrobes were getting a little boring.

She sighed and looked around. The hospital room was as dreary as ever. And she couldn't help but worry about Sakura. Was she awake? Was she safe? Did she get to work on time? How did she get to work? She glanced at the clock on the wall, it was six thirty. She couldn't wait to see Sakura that evening, even though she had told Sakura that she didn't need to come to visit. Worry just ate away at her. She glanced at the clock again, only five minutes had passed. She sighed again. If she couldn't find something to do soon, she might end up going crazy. She thought about calling Sakura on her cell, but she didn't have her cell, or her wallet…or anything.

"We were trained to fight…" Tomoyo thought. "Why couldn't I sense the person there?"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. She looked up and her face lit up.

They had covered the basics. Syaoran's favorite color was green; Sakura's pink. His favorite season was autumn; Sakura's was spring. Syaoran's favorite flower was a peony; Sakura's was a cherry blossom, of course, a little background information was given about why exactly.

Then Sakura thought of something to ask. "What is your family like?"

"My mother is pretty strict. But, she's ok. My four sisters-" he started, but Sakura cut him off.

"You have four sisters?" she asked, dropping the knife she was spinning around on her napkin onto the table.

Syaoran smirked. "Yeah, four older sisters."

"And here I thought growing up with an older brother was hell…" Sakura replied.

"Anyway, they have got to be the most annoying people on the face of the planet. I can never seem to get away from them. And then there is my cousin, Meiling. She's joined the FBI with me. She should be transferring here in a couple of weeks," Syaoran replied.

There was a small paused.

"What about your father?" Sakura asked.

Immediately she wished she could take the question back. His face darkened and he shifted uncomfortably.

"He…died when I was younger," he replied, slowly.

Sakura felt a pang in her chest. She knew what it was like to lose someone close.

"I understand, my mother died when I was three," Sakura replied softly.

Syaoran looked up at her, gratefulness in his eyes. Sakura smiled back.

"What about your family?" Syaoran asked.

"I haven't seen my family in six years…" she replied, trailing off the end of her sentence.

Syaoran stayed quite, waiting for her to continue.

"I left when I was nineteen. My stepmother was a bitch. She threw a vase at me when I came home with a friend to work on a project," she continued quietly and pointed to the long scar coming down across her eyebrow to the corner of her eye. "I don't think she even noticed when I didn't come home the next day."

"What about you father and brother, weren't they worried?" Syaoran asked.

"My father was in Beijing on a business trip. He's an archeologist. And my brother was at medical school in Hong Kong. I never really had time to talk to them while they were away," Sakura finished.

Syaoran didn't know what to say and he just stared at her.

A question had been bothering Sakura for a while now. But she wasn't sure if she should ask him or not. The topic seemed a little touchy earlier, but then again, Sakura was sometimes the reckless type.

"When you made that promise to become an FBI agent…who was that to?" she asked, looking at him cautiously.

Well, well, well, again, this chapter turned out differently than I had expected. O.o You all are probably thinking the same thing: "How can it go differently than planned when you are writing it?" My stories tend to do that a lot… heh. Anyway, time for information on opium! lol I'm sure many of you might be curious about it so, rather than just emailing the reviewer who asked, I'll put the information up here. Please read and review! Reviews make every writer happy!

_Opium is a plant product derived from the sap inside of the opium poppy's seedpod. This poppy grows in dry, warm climates, especially in the mountains stretching from Turkey through Central and South Asia all the way to Laos. It is increasingly being grown in South America, as well._

_The sap of the poppy, which is milky and opaque inside of the pod, turns thick and brown-black in color as it seeps out, after the pod has been sliced open by harvesters. This thick sap is then collected in bricks or balls and enters the black market. Opium in this raw form can be smoked or taken orally, but not injected, since it is still full of fungi and bacteria. The opium can be further processed and purified to become a range of drugs, legal and illegal, including morphine, heroin, codeine, and thebaine. _

_The human brain already has receptors for the opiate drugs; because their chemical structures are quite similar to the endorphins the brain produces itself. Sometimes called "feel-good chemicals," these endorphins are released when we experience pain or stress. They flood the space between neurons (nerve cells), preventing them from flowing back and forth, thus reducing the experience of pain. The opiates work similarly, creating a sort of euphoria._

_The effects of smoking opium are almost identical to the effects of using heroin or morphine. They include a relaxed feeling, relief from pain and anxiety, decreased alertness, respiratory depression (slowed breathing), impaired coordination, constricted pupils, nausea, and constipation. These effects can last from three to six hours._

_Over a period of prolonged usage, an individual can become dependent on opium. This happens because the brain adapts its circuitry to the continued presence of the drug. The user also develops tolerance, where continuously larger doses are needed to provide the same effects. If the drug use is then stopped, the neurons, which had been inhibited, flow freely again, and a chemical imbalance results. This turns into withdrawal, which can begin 8 to 12 hours after the last use. It starts with tears in the eyes and flu-like symptoms, including nausea, cramps, fever, weakness, depression, and diarrhea. Muscle spasms and feelings of anxiety can then develop. The entire process usually lasts 7 to 10 days. _

_The possibility of overdosing on opium, or opium products, is always real, and can involve some serious complications, including slow, shallow breathing, clammy skin, a rapid pulse, circulatory collapse, and convulsions. In the worst cases, coma and even death may result from respiratory failure._

_Information taken from: Go Ask Alice!_


	8. You're What?

Cherry: Sorry for the cliffy last time! Lol. It turns out, that everything went according to some plan! It ended where I wanted it to! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Read and Review please!

Disclaimer: Don't own CCS…wish I did though…

Chapter 7: You're What!

Syaoran was quiet for a while. He had thought earlier that he would wait to tell her about his past. But she had opened up to him about hers; she seemed to be able to trust people quickly. Or on the other hand, once you got her started she just did not shut up, which was entirely plausible. He knew he had his mask up. The one he hid behind whenever someone asked; his cold, angry face. Most of the time it scared people so then ended up not asking anymore. But it did not seem to be working on Sakura. She was watching him, waiting for his answer.

He glanced up at the clock. It was eight thirty. He turned his face back to Sakura.

"I won't tell you here. Let's go back to my apartment," he said.

Sakura nodded slowly. At least he was going to tell her. She reached for her purse and started pulling her wallet out when Syaoran got up and paid for both of them. Sakura stared at him for a moment before standing up and grabbing her jacket.

"You didn't have to pay for me," she said as she pulled her jacket on, flinching slightly as she bumped her shoulder.

Syaoran just shrugged and put his wallet back into his back pocket. "You can just buy lunch if it bothers you that much."

Sakura nodded and buttoned her jacket.

Syaoran watched the road carefully, avoiding a lot of the holes in the road, as Sakura's shoulder kept creeping up in his mind. Sakura was staring out the window, trying to figure out what Syaoran wouldn't say at the restaurant. Was it dangerous? Was he involved in something bad or against the law? That last one made her a little worried, but she tried to reassure herself that he wouldn't have gotten into the FBI if he had a record, and he did not seem like the kind of person to break the law anyway.

She took a glance at him. His profile was amazing. His jaw was firm and his eyes were perfect; a deep amber color that swallowed her up when she looked into them. His hair was messy, but it made him look oh-so-sexy. She blushed.

"I can't think of him like that!" she yelled in her head and turned her gaze back out the window.

When Eriol had come to visit her, her day got much brighter. The room seemed brighter, and she temporarily forgot about worrying about Sakura.

After almost two hours of talking, the silence began eating away at them. Eriol seemed to be getting nervous again; like he wanted to ask her something, but could not say it.

Tomoyo watched him with soft eyes. She had a pretty good idea what he wanted to ask. She had hoped that he would ask at dinner the previous night, but the waiter had interrupted. Now he had a second chance, and she was not about to let him pass it up.

"Is there something you want to ask me?" she asked softly.

Eriol looked up at her, startled; which was something that she had never seen before.

"I…uh…yes…no…you see…" he stuttered.

Tomoyo couldn't help but think it was cute. She only wished she had her video camera from when she was younger. She put on a face that would help him continue; a soft smile, her head tilted slightly to the side, and her eyes caring.

Eriol swallowed and looked into her eyes, a wave of relief flooding over him. He could not help but think that she already knew what he wanted to say. But then again, that was why he felt the way he did.

To Sakura, Syaoran's apartment seemed colder than the last time she had been there, which was just yesterday. It was probably just her though, being so curious and worried at the same time about what Syaoran might tell her that could only be said in the privacy of his apartment.

She looked around again, nothing had moved, but she did notice something she did not see last time. It was a picture. Syaoran had gone into the kitchen for something so she slipped off her shoes and her jacket and walked over to look at it more closely.

It was a big family, obviously his. Her eyes traveled to the man holding the boy on his shoulders. They both looked so happy.

"That must be his father," Sakura thought.

They looked very similar; the messy hair and the intense eyes.

Syaoran emerged from the kitchen and saw Sakura staring at the picture. He watched her for a few minutes, to see what she would do.

Sakura just kept staring at it, staring at Syaoran and his father, and for some reason, she couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of sadness emanating from the photo.

Syaoran cleared his throat and Sakura turned around. He motioned to the sofa and she quietly sat down. He sat across from her and looked down at his hands.

"What I'm about to tell you cannot leave this room," he started, still looking at his hands.

"Alright," Sakura replied. After all, he had promised not to tell anyone about her shoulder.

She watched him carefully though he would not look back up at her.

"My promise was made…" he started.

Sakura bit her lower lip. She was not sure what she was going to get. Nothing came to mind and her eyes slowly drifted back to the picture on the wall.

"When I was seven," Syaoran started again. "My father was working for the FBI. He was on a case to bust an opium distributor, and he was about to bring them out when they shot and killed him. I took this job to get revenge on that distributor. Rumor has it that the distributor here is the one from Hong Kong."

Sakura turned back to him, her mouth open slightly and her eyes wide. "You're what!"

Syaoran looked up at her, his eyes were a little glossy, but there was a bit of shock on his face at her reply.

Sakura frowned. "I'm sorry…but revenge? Doing something just to get revenge isn't right Syaoran."

"I'm righting a wrong that was done to my family. When my father died it took my family a fucking long time to recover. You just don't understand what it's like to lose someone in that way, to lose someone so suddenly," Syaoran replied, a small tear falling from his right eye.

He looked away from her and Sakura felt her heart break.

"You're wrong about that," Sakura said softly, looking down at her feet.

"What?" Syaoran asked, turning to look at her.

"I do know what it's like…to lose someone like that," Sakura said again.

Syaoran frowned. "Maybe I shouldn't have said what I did," he thought.

"My mother…contracted a deadly disease," Sakura continued, "I was so young and I didn't understand what was going on. It was only three weeks after she got sick that she died. She died on my fourth birthday."

Syaoran stared at her.

"So," she said softly, "I know what it is like."

Syaoran swallowed what felt like a lump in his throat. What was he going to say now?

Sakura looked up at the clock, it was nine forty-five. "We should get going. The copy shop opens in fifteen minutes."

Syaoran nodded slightly and Sakura stood up and started walking over to her jacket, but Syaoran grabbed her wrist lightly. She turned to look at him, their eyes locking.

"I…I'm sorry, for what I said. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that," he said, turning away and dropping her wrist, his face a light shade of pink. "She's gorgeous," he thought.

Sakura just stared at him for a few seconds. Her heart was beating fast and she could still feel his hand on her wrist, and she wanted it back there. She shook head. She could not, and would not think about her partner this way. "It's all right," she replied.

Syaoran looked at her as she turned to put her shoes on and get her coat. It had been a long time since the feeling he had just had came upon him. A very long time, and he wasn't sure what to do. For one thing, she was his partner, and relationships with your partners were, well, highly unlikely to last, not to mention that they were frowned upon.

The last time Sakura had felt anything for a boy was when she was thirteen. She had tried to tell him that she liked him, but it turns out that he liked her best friend, Chiyo. Sakura was about to confess when he walked over to Chiyo and kissed her. Chiyo had known about Sakura's crush on him, but she kissed him back. That's when their friendship ended. Sakura hadn't really trusted anyone else with such an honor as being her best friend until she met Tomoyo.

Sakura looked at the door to Syaoran's apartment; she couldn't look at him right now. There were too many emotions running through her body and mind.

"Are you ready to go?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah," Syaoran replied and grabbed his keys of the cabinet near the door.

They got back into Syaoran's Mustang and headed towards the copy shop.

Ok, so, sorry for making this chapter shorter than the others. I figured that I've been keeping you all waiting long enough. xx Sorry about that… Um… look for updates on my stories in my bio, which I will try to keep up to date. I'll get started on the next chapter of this tomorrow, granted that all things go as planned for the remainder of the weekend. Well, please read and review, it's much appreciated.


	9. Clue 2

**_Cherry: Mou, I'm so disappointed in myself. I haven't written in so long. You must all be annoyed, I'm so sorry. _**

**_Disclaimer: I think I may have mentioned it to someone that I owned Card Captor Sakura once… but, apparently just saying it gets you thrown in jail too… _**

Chapter 8: Clue 2

To say she was only a little excited would be an understatement; she was euphoric. Though she had hoped she knew what he wanted to tell her, she couldn't hold back her response. She had squealed so loudly that a couple nurses came in to check on her. Though embarrassed and insisted that she was fine, Eriol could not stop laughing at her.

"It's not funny!" she exclaimed and covered her blushing face.

"I suppose I can take that as a yes though, right?" Eriol asked.

Tomoyo put her hands down. "Yes, you can," she replied, smiling brightly at him.

For being so much later in the morning, Sakura and Syaoran hit a lot of traffic. They did not reach the copy shop until fifteen after.

Syaoran pulled into the small parking lot and got out of the car, followed shortly by Sakura.

The building was plain and simple. The sides were white, and it had one window in the front.

Sakura pushed the glass door open. There wasn't anyone inside but a woman, obviously the cashier behind the counter reading a magazine.

"I'll talk to her," Syaoran said.

Sakura nodded as they both walked over to the counter.

"May I help you with something?" the girl asked as she put the magazine down.

"We're with the FBI, and we were wondering if we could ask you a few questions," Syaoran said, rather than asked.

The girls face paled slightly and she nodded. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked.

"No. It's concerning the death of Hayate Wakaouji," Syaoran replied.

The girl nodded again.

"Can you tell us what you remember from two days ago?" Syaoran asked.

"It started out just like any other day. Hayate was already here when I got to work, he was always the early one, never later for anything. I saw a folder lying on his desk in the back when I set my jacket down with a sticky note on it. I think there were directions on it. Anyway, I came back out to the front and Hayate said that he was going to have to go out for a little while, but that he should be back before noon," she said.

Syaoran h ad a small notebook out and he was scribbling down what she was saying.

"He went into the back to get his coat and he walked out with the folder in his hand. The last thing I saw was him driving off," she finished.

Syaoran finished writing what she said down and put the notebook away. "Would you mind if we looked at his desk?"

The girl shook her head and led them to the back room.

Sakura pulled two sets of gloves out of her purse and handed one pair to Syaoran.

After pulling her gloves on she opened on of the desk drawers. Everything was perfectly arranged; pens and pencils on one side, rubber bands ranging in sizes on the other. She frowned and closed the drawer, moving to the side of the desk and opening another drawer.

Syaoran on the other hand, walked to a small filing cabinet labeled "Hayate" and was fingering through the files.

Sakura closed drawer after drawer with no luck of finding anything useful.

"Sakura…" Syaoran said slowly, pulling out a file.

"Yes?" she replied, her heart skipping a beat as he said her name.

"I think I found something," he said as he walked over to her at the desk.

He set down a file folder on the desk. It was labeled "FBI: Confidential."

Sakura looked at Syaoran then reached to open the file folder.

Inside were dozens of pictures.

"It looks like our friend Hayate had two copies of everything he gave Kinomaka," Syaoran said.

Sakura nodded. "We should get this back to headquarters."

Syaoran closed the folder and picked it up. "Let's go."

They both walked back to the front, and after saying both thank you and goodbye to the girl they left.

They climbed back into Syaoran's car and sat there. Sakura looked at him.

"You saw them too?" she asked softly, barely above a whisper.

Syaoran nodded, looking in his rearview mirror. A dark brown van was parked a little ways down the street behind them. There were two men sitting inside, completely dressed in black, dark sunglasses covering their eyes.

Sakura reached for her cell phone slowly. Trying not to make it obvious of what she was reaching for. She turned her head slightly as she dialed Tomoyo's cell to have her call for backup. Placing on her right ear that was hidden from view, it started ringing. But Syaoran reached over and, his hand grabbing the back of her neck, and pulled her close, whispering almost inaudibly in her ear.

"My car could be wired. Hang up the phone," he said, his warm breath tickling her ear.

She nodded, blushing fervently, as she closed her phone and stuffed it into her purse.

"Oh my God…" she thought, feeling her skin tingling and burning from his touch.

Her heart was racing a mile a minute and she hoped to God that he could not hear it. Syaoran swallow and turned away from her. His heart was beating faster than normal, and he had no idea why; well, he had one idea, but he tried to ignore it. He looked at the side mirror. The van was still there.

"Fuck," Syaoran mentally cursed. "We have to get a message out somehow…"

Sakura typed quickly, and quietly, on her phone, and then tapped Syaoran hand that was resting on the gearshift and handed it to him.

"Can I at least text message Tomoyo?" read the small print on the illuminated screen of her phone.

Syaoran smiled at her, and typed back. "Good thinking."

Sakura's face flushed and smiled softly back. Taking her phone back and quickly typing a message to Tomoyo.

The small purple phone vibrated, causing a buzzing sound against the wood side table next to the hospital bed.

Eriol looked up at Tomoyo from the chair he was sitting in. She had fallen asleep about a half an hour early and he did not want to wake his sleeping angel. He debated with himself as to whether or not he should look at her phone. He looked between Tomoyo and the phone a few more times before picking it up and reading the message.

"Shit…" he quickly dialed the phone number to the headquarters on his phone, reading the message again and again.

The phone rang on the other end over and over again.

"Pick up the fucking phone already," Eriol said under his breath.

"Hello, FBI headquarters, how may I direct your call?" the voice of Ms. Izu said on the other end.

"Mr. Kinomaka, please," Eriol said quickly.

"May I ask who is calling?" her voice asked.

"It's Agent Hiirigazawa, it's concerning the case that Agents Kinomoto and Li are on," Eriol explained briefly.

"Alright, just a moment," Ms. Izu said and place Eriol on hold.

"Mr. Kinomaka, I have Agent Hiirigazawa on the phone, he says it's something about the case that Agents Kinomoto and Li are on," she said.

She nodded her head and connected Eriol to Mr. Kinomaka's office.

"Hiirigazawa?" Mr. Kinomaka's voice asked.

"Yes, it's me. Tomoyo just got a text message from Sakura saying that they are sitting outside of the copy shop, but they can't go anywhere. There is a van parked behind them with two men dressed in black and they don't know whether or not Syaoran's car is bugged and or rigged to blow up if they start the ignition."

The other end of the phone was silent.

"Sir?" Eriol asked.

"I understand. I'll get another team out there as soon as possible. Tell them to keep calm, and do not let them get out of the car unless completely necessary," Kinomaka said sternly.

"Yes, sir," Eriol replied.

He hung up his phone and looked down at Tomoyo's phone and quickly typed the directions that Kinomaka had given him.

Sakura's phone vibrated in her hand and she jumped, letting out a small squeak. Syaoran glanced at her and then into his rearview mirror behind him. The men had looked at each other. Yes, his car was bugged. Those fucking idiots had messed with his car.

He reached over to Sakura again and grabbed her neck again, bringing it to his face, where their lips met. Sakura's eyes were wide with shock and her face was burning; she had definitely not expected this. She looked at his eyes, and they communicated to her to play along. Slowly her hand made its way up to his hair and she closed her eyes, tilting her head to the side. Her heart was racing, but she tried to remain calm; this was after all, a ploy to get the two men to leave; but she could get rid of the fact that she felt something spark inside of her. Syaoran opened his right eye and glanced behind him. The two men were looking at each other again, and were visibly uncomfortable. Syaoran smirk into the kiss and closed his eyes again. Sakura's other hand went to his mess of chocolate hair and she ran her ringers down his scalp. It was his turn be surprised; he hadn't thought that she'd play along so well, and truth be told, he felt pretty damn good.

The broke apart, both of them panting slightly from the lack of air. Sakura's face was bright red, but Syaoran's matched her; so they were even.

Syaoran glanced at the mirror again; they were still there. Fuck. He looked at Sakura again and tilted his head ever so slightly towards the van behind them. Sakura nodded back, and they met in the middle. Sakura's hands dove back into his hair and one of Syaoran's grabbed the side of her face, his other wrapping around her leg. Both of their bodies were tingling with the sensation that there was more than just work in this kiss; but they both threw it off.

Syaoran opened his eye again; and they were still there. Syaoran groaned in frustration, but it could easily be mistaken for a groan of satisfaction as well. He broke from her lips and moved to her cheek and towards her ear where he whispered to her. Sakura nodded, whispering something quickly back to him.

Without breaking their lip-lock, Syaoran started to climb to the backseat, Sakura following him. They stretched out on the backseat, Syaoran on the bottom, Sakura sitting on his stomach. Sakura started to stretch her arms out to straighten out her shirt when she broke from Syaoran's lips in a cry of pain. She had stretched her arm farther than she should have.

"Are you ok? Did I hurt you?" Syaoran asked, forgetting about his car being bugged.

"No, no, I-I'm alright," Sakura replied, her eyes filling with tears that she tried to fight the pain as her arm throbbed.

"Let me see it," Syaoran said.

Little did they know, but in the van behind them, the two men were red themselves, red with the embarrassment of listening to this, or at least what they thought, intimate moment between the two.

The driver quickly started the engine, turning off the microphone that was in the car and drove off; it was more than he could take.

Sakura looked up as the brown van drove by, and between wiping the tears from her eyes, she started to laugh.

Syaoran sat up so they were both sitting in the back seat.

"Now I'm serious, let me see your shoulder," he said.

Sakura nodded slightly, thanking God that she had thought to put a white camisole underneath her long-sleeved shirt.

She opened her mouth to say something, but hesitated.

"What?" Syaoran asked.

"You'll…" she swallowed what felt like a lump in her throat. "You'll have to help me get my shirt off…"

Syaoran blushed, but quickly recovered. "Alright."

Sakura's face flushed as he helped her pull her shirt off, revealing her black and purple shoulder.

"What the fuck Sakura? That's on the brink of being seriously dangerous to your health," Syaoran burst out.

Sakura flinched and Syaoran shut his mouth. "I'm sorry," he said.

Sakura shook her head. She knew down inside that he was right.

The sound of the cars that belonged to the FBI pulling up around them and both of their eyes widen.

"Quick, help me get it back on!" Sakura said

Syaoran slipped her shirt back on and they climbed out of the car.

They were surrounded by FBI agents.

"Are you two alright?" one of them asked.

"We're fine. They left a few minutes ago," Syaoran replied.

"Did you do anything to get them to leave?" another asked.

And that is when the realization hit them. They figured out what the men must have been thinking.

"Oh shit," Sakura thought as her face and almost all skin visible turned red with embarrassment.

"Uh, not…not really," Syaoran replied, looking down at the ground as if something of interest had suddenly appeared there.

"Ok then…" another agent said. "We'll check your car for any bombs and then you two can follow us back to headquarters."

Sakura and Syaoran nodded silently.

The agents did a quick, yet thorough search of the car, removing the bug and verifying that there were no bombs anywhere on the car.

Sakura and Syaoran got back into his car and began following the vans and cars back to headquarters.

There was an awkward silence that filled the car.

"If… if it makes you feel better, that was strictly business related back there," Syaoran said after clearing his throat a few times, knowing that he was lying to both himself and Sakura.

Sakura nodded. "Strictly business, I understand."

Neither of them said anything, but they were both thinking hard about what happened.

"That was one hell of a way to get to know each other," Syaoran thought.

When they returned to headquarters, they were quickly called into Kinomaka's office.

"I see that you two are perfectly fine," Kinomaka said, with a huge look of relief on his face.

"Yes, sir, we're fine," Sakura replied, taking a seat.

Syaoran set the manila folder in front of Mr. Kinomaka and took a seat next to Sakura.

"Ahh, I see that your search of the copy shop was not in vain," he replied, picking up the folder and slowly opening it.

"It looks like our victim kept a separate copy of everything," Sakura explained.

"Hayate was never a fool," was Kinomaka's only reply.

Sakura and Syaoran looked at each other and then looked back at Kinomaka.

"Kinomoto, you should go visit Daidouji. I'm sure you've wanted to this whole time. And Li, take the rest of the day off," Kinomaka said, closing the folder after flipping through the images and documents that were in it.

Sakura nodded. "Thank you, sir."

Kinomaka smiled softly at her, and then shooed both of them out of the room.

Sakura walked over to her desk and grabbed her coffee mug and then her jacket and purse. "I really hate to ask you this, but, could you give me a ride to the hospital? I mean, I understand if you'd rather just go home. I can take the bus," she said, her words meshing together as she said them so quickly.

"It's fine with me," Syaoran replied, with a small smile playing on his lips.

Sakura hurried into the room that Tomoyo was recovering in; she was sitting up, reading a fashion magazine.

She looked up.

"Sakura! Eriol told me what happened. Are you alright?" she asked, worry in her voice and written on her face.

Sakura nodded, smiling at her friend.

Eriol, who had just woken up from his uncomfortable nap on the hard plastic chair, adjusted his glasses before standing. "I'll leave you two be for a few minutes."

He smiled at Tomoyo before leaving the room.

"I have something big to tell you Sakura," Tomoyo said.

"What? What is it?" Sakura asked.

Tomoyo patted her hand on the bed for Sakura to sit down.

"Eriol finally asked me to be his girlfriend," she said calmly, though one could plainly see that she wanted to squeal in delight.

A bright smile spread across Sakura's face and she took Tomoyo's hands in hers. And with that, Tomoyo could not hold it in any longer. They both squealed in delight.

"I'm so happy for you, Tomoyo!" Sakura said, hugging her friend. "I was beginning to wonder when he was going to ask."

Tomoyo laugh. "So was I."

Meanwhile, Eriol found someone he had not expected to meet.

"Syaoran?" he asked, incredulously, but not without a hint of amusement in his voice.

Syaoran looked up from the chair and his eyes narrow as he saw who had called his name. "You," was all he said.

Eriol laughed and sat next to him. "What brings you here cousin?"

"I work for the FBI here," Syaoran replied, shifting in his seat. Eriol had always given off this weird vibe, almost as if he knew everything. And that glint in his eyes really did not help either.

"Really now, so do I," Eriol replied, a mischievous smile crossing his face.

Syaoran glared at him in response and Eriol laughed.

"What brings you to the hospital?"

"My partner needed a ride to visit her friend," Syaoran replied, turning his gaze to the floor again.

"Sakura?" Eriol asked.

"Yes," Syaoran replied, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips.

Eriol nodded. He was definitely going to have to talk to Tomoyo about this.

"How's Meling doing?" Eriol asked, trying to pass the time.

"She'll be here by the end of the week," Syaoran answered, leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms across his chest.

Eriol nodded again, the wheels in his mind were turning, and Syaoran glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. Syaoran knew he was up to something, but, he never could guess what that something was.

"Well, we'll just have to celebrate when she gets here," Eriol said. "I'm sure Tomoyo will want to go celebrate getting out of here, and Sakura will want to celebrate getting a new partner."

Syaoran nodded dully, he had stopped listening to him speak.

Sakura walked out of the room, a broad, bright smile on her face. Eriol stood up, hugged Sakura briefly and then went back in.

"You never told me you know Eriol," Syaoran said, standing up.

"I didn't think you'd know him," Sakura replied.

"He's my cousin," Syaoran replied, frowning.

"When most people talk about their family their happy," Sakura commented, looking at him cautiously.

Syaoran shrugged. "He just bugs me, that's all."

"Then why did it matter if I told you about him or not?" Sakura asked.

Syaoran opened his mouth, but closed it. She had caught him.

"Ha," Sakura replied and started walking down the hallway towards the exit. "How about I treat you to an early dinner, to repay you for breakfast this morning?"

"Alright, but, let's stop by the bar after that. I need a drink," Syaoran replied, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Sakura smiled. "Damn straight."

**_Ok, so, there's chapter 8. I hope you all liked it, and sorry you all had to wait so long... Sadly, this would have been uploaded on Valentine's Day, but, the internet here at school was being an ass and decided to not work on my computer only. Yeah, I'm a bit pissed off. Anyway, read and review. I could be cruel and not upload the next chapter until I get at least 20 reviews… but I haven't really decided yet. So… yeah… Alright then, I guess I'll see you all next chapter, hopefully. Oh yes, thank you to all the readers who have patiently waited for this update. I will try far harder next time to get the next chapter out as soon as possible. One more thing, Happy/Merry any holiday that I missed between this and my last update._**


	10. A Night Out

**_Cherry: Whaaaaaaaaaa! I'm sorry about not updating! I'd forgotten all about this story! Don't hate me!!_**

**_Disclaimer: Bug off, I don't own CCS._**

Chapter 9: A Night Out

Dinner was rather peaceful that evening. Sakura took Syaoran to a small, but nice sushi restaurant.

"What do you think?" Sakura asked as she watched Syaoran eat his dinner.

She had not touched much of her plate yet because she was waiting to see how Syaoran would react to it. It was the best sushi restaurant on the residential side of Tomoeda.

"It's probably the best sushi restaurant I've ever been too," he replied, taking another bite.

Sakura smiled. "Good, I'm glad you like it."

She grabbed her chopsticks again and started eating, every once in while dipping her sushi in a small bowl of brown liquid.

A waitress walked by and smiled seductively at Syaoran and Sakura's smile was replaced by a hard glare, but soon turned into a blank look.

"Why did I just do that?" she thought. "It's not like we're dating; like that would ever happen anyway."

When she said that in her mind, she sighed; never before had she ever so desperately wanted a boyfriend. "I thought I learned my lesson years ago…"

Syaoran looked at Sakura before looking at the waitress that was hovering around them. Her short blonde hair was curled out and her dark blue eyes held a lot of secrets; secrets he did not want to learn. He glared darkly at her and she quickly walked off. He turned back to Sakura and she was poking her food with her chopsticks.

"What the hell are you doing? You shouldn't feel this way about your partner," he thought.

But somewhere deep inside, he wished that she felt the same way, and that they could make it work.

"How about we head to that bar now?" Syaoran asked.

Sakura looked up at him and nodded; thankful for being able to get away. She left the tab on the table and they both got up and left.

The bar was not just any bar; this bar had its own parking lot with a gate that locked, with more than one kind of lock as well. It was to prevent a driver that was too intoxicated to drive from driving, they would be given a cab and their car would be locked up for the night. Drinking and driving was a big thing for them, the owner's daughter had died from a begin hit by a drunk driver, so he took it very personally.

Sakura and Syaoran sat down at the counter, the buzz of activity was deafening and the music was still louder. Sakura looked around; this was the same place that she had run through when she was in disguise.

"What can I get you to drink?" the bartender asked.

"Vodka and Coke," Sakura shouted over the noise.

"And you?" he asked turning to Syaoran.

"Same thing," Syaoran replied.

He nodded and reached for two glasses from the shelf behind him. He set the two glasses down on the counter and grabbed the vodka bottle and filled both of them half way, then looked up at the two and filled until they were three-quarters of the way full.

Sakura laughed and leaned on the counter, her right arm supporting most of her weight.

The bartender then reached for the coke nozzle and filled the rest of the glass with Coke.

Sakura and Syaoran reached for their glasses and both took a big swig. Sakura closed her eyes as she swallowed. God did it burn going down, but that did not stop her from taking another drink. Syaoran watched her with a raised eyebrow.

"We'll see how long she can hold her alcohol," he thought, taking another big drink of his own glass.

"Most people that come in here have a story," the bartender started. "Do you two have one?"

Sakura shook her head. "We just needed a little break from a rough day at work."

"Right," the bartender thought. "Where do you two work?"

"If I told you that," Sakura said laughing, "I would have to kill you."

A small smile played on Syaoran's lips as he stared into his cup. The golden brown liquid stared back at him.

It was not long before Sakura's better judgment was affected by the alcohol. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes sparkled happily from the alcohol running through her system.

"And the guy bumps into this little old lady," she rambled on to the bartender who had a rather amused look on his face.

Syaoran was trying to pay attention, but it was hard, his head was fuzzy from all the alcohol and the people around him seemed to blend into the next.

"He apologizes, but the old lady just whacks him with her cane and keeps walking. I'd never seen anything so hilarious in my life!" Sakura finished, gesturing wildly with her hand, emphasizing the contact between the man's knees and the cane.

Syaoran laughed as she almost fell off the stool and Sakura turned to him with wide eyes.

"You're laughing!" she exclaimed.

"You know," Syaoran started, trying to form a complete sentence in his head, "you really need to," he paused for a moment and frowned. "Aw fuck, I don't remember what I was going to say."

Sakura started laughing and someone sat down next to her.

"Hey there sweet-stuff, how's you take a ride home with me?" the man slurred.

Sakura turned to look at him with a hiccup. "Are you talking to me?"

Syaoran watched the man with narrow eyes while the bartender put the glass in his hand down.

"Yes," he slurred again, breathing into Sakura's face.

She frowned. "Leave me alone," she replied and turned back to Syaoran.

But the man grabbed her left shoulder roughly and she let out a scream of pain, and before anyone blinked he was lying on the ground unconscious. Syaoran had Sakura safely behind him, his left hand making sure she stayed there and his right extended out in a fist where it had apparently come into contact with the man's face.

"Don't you ever fuckin' touch a lady who doesn't want to talk to you," he said, swaying slightly and dropping his slightly bloodied hand.

The bartender smirked, the man that was now lying on the ground had been causing a ruckus lately and he was rather glad that Syaoran had knocked him out.

"Miko! Call security and have them get this guy out of here, he'll probably need to go to the hospital for his broken nose," the bartender called to the man at the other end of the bar.

The other man nodded and went to the phone.

Syaoran turned back to Sakura. "You ok?" he asked.

Sakura nodded slowly at first before changing her mind and saying no. The pain was unbearable; the man had grabbed her right on the joint, where the bruise was the worst.

"I'll call you two a cab, just sit tight," the bartender said walking away.

Sakura's teeth were clenched as she tried to fight the pain.

Syaoran scrunched his eyes closed trying to clear his blurry vision, when he opened them again, the pain that was visible on Sakura's face made his heart hurt.

"You should come back to my place, it's closer than yours," he explained, not leaving any room for a discussion.

Sakura nodded, clutching her arm.

The bartender came back and told them that their cab was waiting for them outside. Syaoran thanked him and grabbed his and Sakura's coats and led her to the entrance.

----

Tomoyo sighed on her hospital bed. She was going insane staring at the white room all day long with no one there to entertain her; magazines and the television could only do that for so long.

"At least I'm going home tomorrow," she thought and looked at the purple cell phone sitting on the table next to her.

Eriol had been so kind when he replaced it for her as a means to keep in touch with Sakura while she was working, and it had proven to be useful when Sakura and Syaoran were in trouble.

She had liked Eriol for a long time, ever since she had started working with the FBI. He had been so nice to her the first day when she made a few mistakes while adjusting. He had said that everyone messed up the first time.

She smiled at she thought about Sakura's love life, or lack there of. She couldn't quite figure out why Sakura didn't find interest in many guys. At that she frowned. She had to get Sakura with someone, she just had to. Now that she had Eriol and would be spending time with him, she didn't want Sakura to feel neglected.

"Come to think of it," she said slowly, "I wonder if I could talk Kinomaka into letting me set her and her partner up. Though, I have yet to meet him."

A mischievous glint formed her eyes and a sly smile spread across her lips. If she got permission, she would have to pull out her video camera again. There was no way that she was going to not get it on tape.

She sighed again.

"It'll be tough though, with all the running around they will be doing on the case," she thought as her frown deepened.

----

By the time they reached Syaoran's apartment complex Sakura was delirious from the pain in her shoulder that had spread to almost her whole body. She would sway and stumble and cry out in pain. It took all of Syaoran's will power to get her up the steps and into the elevator.

Sakura's face was pale and tear stained as she gripped the rail with her right hand, trying to squeeze the pain away. She hiccupped, her breathing was getting shallower, and her body began to tremble. The door to the elevator opened and Syaoran took Sakura's right hand and pulled her too him. He easily lifted her up and carried her to his door at the end of the hallway.

Once inside his apartment he set her down on the couch and hurried to the refrigerator to get ice for her shoulder. He grabbed the green towel off of the stove and hurried back over to Sakura.

"We need to get you out of that shirt. If the bruise swells the shirt will only constrict it and make it hurt more," he explained.

Sakura vaguely nodded and attempted to start taking the shirt off herself. Syaoran's left hand grabbed her right hand and he pushed it away.

"Let me help you," he said and pulled the shirt up and off her right arm, then carefully moving to the left arm.

The white camisole practically glowed in the dark against Sakura's black and blue arm. Sakura caught a look at her arm and gagged, turning her head away.

Syaoran helped her get into a comfortable position on the couch with cushions behind her and then put the towel with the ice in it on her shoulder. She flinched at the sudden coldness and she bit her lower lip.

"I'll get you some pain medication," he said getting up again.

Sakura watched his blurry form walk back to the kitchen as the throbbing form her arm echoed in her head.

"Taichi would never have done this for me," she thought. "Syaoran doesn't have to take care of me… but he is. I don't deserve this."

Across town, Taichi was sitting in a dark room, his fingers slowly massaging his temples. He had heard about what happened to Sakura and her partner that day. He had never imagined that his father would not have trusted him when he said that he would take care of things. But he really couldn't blame him, in the past he had been unreliable, but not now, not since he joined the FBI.

A soft sigh escaped his mouth. What did he think would happen if he joined his father in his "little business?" That he would love him? That he would gain respect from his father? Did he think that his father could take pride in him for taking over? It was an absurd desire that he had, it was almost impossible for his father to love him; he didn't even love his mother. Every night that he didn't come home on time, or didn't come home at all for that matter, he was with another woman, but he didn't have the heart to tell his mother what his father was doing. She was already ill and frail, the news would probably take what little was left of her life

"Why can't I just have a normal family?" he whispered softly.

His mind immediately brought up a picture of Sakura, and he sighed again. He couldn't have her, she wouldn't accept him if she found out what he really was and what his father was doing. She would despise him, and he wouldn't be able to deal with that.

He pushed himself up from the soft leather chair and walked to the window and pushed the blinds open. The light from the moon filled the window and stared out at the city through the leaves of the trees.

"They will never have to deal with the things I deal with," he said softly.

"Taichi," a soft voice called behind him.

He turned quickly. "Mother, you should be in bed resting," he said and went to her.

"I know, but I couldn't sleep. When I went to your room you weren't there, so I came to find you," she said, resting her pale hand on his shoulder.

"Mother please, let me take you back to bed. The doctor said the only way you will get better is if you get lots of rest," Taichi explained.

She nodded and let him lead her back to the stairs.

Syaoran stared at Sakura's sleeping form on his couch from the dinning room table, frowning slightly. He didn't understand what it was that he was feelings, there were so many emotions flowing through his body that he didn't know what to do.

A soft beeping came from her jacket pocket and she stirred slightly, flinching before falling back asleep again.

Syaoran walked over and pulled out her cell phone. Looking at the screen there was a name: Tomoyo. He glanced at Sakura's sleeping for and then flipped the phone open.

"Hello?"

"I think I may have the wrong number," Tomoyo's voice said.

"No, Daidouji, Sakura is asleep right now on my couch," Syaoran replied staring at Sakura with his head tilted slightly.

"Is she alright?" Tomoyo asked, panic evident in her voice.

"As alright as one possibly could be when someone grabs a bruised shoulder," he replied, kneeling next to the couch and pushing some hair that had fallen into Sakura's face away.

Tomoyo sighed on the other end of the phone. "Is her shoulder looking any better?"

His face flushed and he pulled his hand back. "N-no. If anything it's getting worse. She shouldn't be out in the field working with it. But I promised her that I wouldn't tell anyone about it."

"How did you find out?" she asked.

"She told me," he replied, walking back to the table to sit down.

Tomoyo was sitting up straight on her hospital bed. Sakura had told him, willingly. A sly smile crept across her face. Her plan my not be as hard as she originally thought.

"I think I should be the one to tell Mr. Kinomaka about her shoulder. I'll see what he has to say about it," she said softly

"Won't she be mad?" Syaoran's voice asked.

"Yes, but at this point, I'd rather her be mad at me than have her get any more hurt," Tomoyo replied.

Syaoran nodded his head, she had a point. After what happened at the bar Sakura was going to be in a lot of pain the next day, not only with her shoulder, but also with her hangover.

"Daidouji," Syaoran started. His eyes were back on Sakura's form on his couch.

"Yes?" Tomoyo asked.

"Never mind, it's not important," he replied after hesitating for a moment. Any information about Sakura he was going to get straight from her.

"Alright. Well, I should be going; I'm not really supposed to be on the phone here anyway. Can you tell Sakura that I'll be at home tomorrow when she comes back? Eriol is going to take me home."

"I don't think Sakura is going to want to go anywhere tomorrow," Syaoran said softly.

"Why?" Tomoyo asked.

"Well, on top of her shoulder, she kind of had a lot to drink. We went to the bar after Kinomaka gave us the rest of the day off," Syaoran replied.

"Then I'll stop by tomorrow to check on her," Tomoyo said.

"Alright, we'll see you tomorrow," Syaoran agreed, rubbing his left temple. His hangover was already starting.

Syaoran set Sakura's phone down on the table and took and step towards the hallway, and with that step came a wave of nausea and a dizzy spell. He leaned against the chair in front of him to steady himself and he slowly dropped to his knees on the soft floor; the pain was getting unbearable. He curled up on the floor a few feet from the couch and fell into unconsciousness.

_**Uh… yeah… this chapter has been done for some time now… I just never got around to uploading it. I'm very sorry! bows over and over again I have no idea when the next chapter will be up… I don't really have any time write now to write. Stupid school. sigh I sincerely hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Please review.**_


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